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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 






CHAMPLAIN 



APPLETONS' SERIES OF 

HIST ORIC L IVES. 

Father Marquette. 

By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The 
Jesuit Relations." Third Edition. 

Daniel Boone. 

By Reuben Gold Thwaites. Third Edition. 

Horace Greeley. 

By William A. Linn, for many years Man- 
aging Editor of the " New York Evening 
Post." 

Sir William Johnson. 

By Augustus C. Buell, Author of "Paul 
Jones, Founder of the American Navy." 

Anthony Wa-yne. 

By John R. Spears, Author of *' History of the 
American Slave Trade," etc, 

Champlain : The Founder of New Fra.i\ce. 

By Edwin Asa Dix, M. A., LL. B., Formerly 
Fellow in History of Princeton University, Author 
of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive 
Through the Pyrenees," etc. 

JcLines Oglethorpe : The Founder of 

Georgia. By Miss Harriet C. Cooper. [/» 
preparation.'] 

George Rogers Clark. 

By Reuben Gold Thwaites. [In preparation.] 

Each 12mo. Illustrated. $1.00 net. 
Postage, 10 cents additional. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 




SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 

At about the age of forty. 

Reproduced from au engraving by Moncornet. 



Cliampkm 



THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE 



BY 
EDWIN ASA DIX, M. A., LL. B. 

Formerly Fellow in History of Princeton University 

Author of " Deacon Bradbury," *' Old Bowen's 

Legacy," " A Midsummer Drive 

Through the Pyrenees " 

Illustrated 




New York 

1903 



THF LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two CO(Ht» RKCt£IVED 

NOV 21 »9©3 

COPVHKJHT CMTBV 

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COPYRIQHT, 1903, BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



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CONTENTS 



CHAPTEB 

I. The Making of a Soldier 

II. The Making of a Sailok . 

III. The Explorers of New France 

IV. Champlain on the St. Lawrence 
V. A Winter in Acadia . 

VI. A Glimpse of New England 

VII. The Founding of Quebec . 

VIII. Arrows and Arquebuses , 

IX. Another Forest Battle . 

X. The Beginnings of Montreal 

XI. A Search for the North Sea 

XII. A Winter among the Hurons 

XIII. The Brewing of a Storm 

XIV. Defiance and Starvation 
XV. The Capture of Quebec . 

XVI. Kestitution and Renovation 

XVII. The Passing of a Knightly Soul 

INDEX 



PAGE 
1 

15 

33 

47 

60 

72 

87 

102 

118 

129 

144 

IGl 

175 

192 

206 

223 

236 

243 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAaNQ 
PAGE 



Samuel de Champlain, at about tlie age of forty . Frontispiece ^ 

The Settlement at St. Croix 68 ' 

The Settlement at Quebec . . . . . . 102 -^ 

The Defeat of the Iroquois on Lake Champlain . .112-^ 

The Second Fight with the Iroquois .... 124 -^ 

Map showing Champlain's Journey to the Country of 

the Hurons . . 166*^ 

The Third Fight with the Iroquois 170 /^ 

Samuel de Champlain, at about the age of sixty- five . 225 

The new Champlain Monument at Quebec • ♦ . 240 



CHAMPLAIN 



CHAPTER I 

THE MAKING OF A SOLDIER 
1567-1598 

Down on the southwest coast of France, 
sprayed by the storm-driven waters of the Bay 
of Biscay, is the little hamlet of Brouage, now 
moldering into picturesque decay. From its 
ancient four-square walls, flanked with their 
seven bastions, and shaded by magnificent cen- 
tury-old elms, you look out over the wide 
stretch of salt marshes which surround the 
place on three sides, and can trace the line of 
the old channel, now filled up, which once 
linked its harbor with the sea. Within the 
town a few inhabitants are still to be found, 
clattering along the little, ill-paved streets in 
their wooden sabots ; but they seem to live in 
the past rather than in the present, and to be 
thinking of the bright days of an era now 
gone, when Brouage was a proud and pros- 
perous seaport of Old France. 
5 1 



Champlain 



In the village stands a modern monument, 
strange in the contrast to its ancient surround- 
ings. It is a memorial to Brouage^s greatest 
son, Samuel de Champlain, the founder of the 
French power in America, who was born here 
about the year 1567. 

How different was his birthplace three cen- 
turies and a quarter ago! Then its harbor, 
if small, was deep, and its channel free ; fish- 
ing craft, trading schooners, and even the 
royal war- vessels anchored in its roadstead; 
its narrow wharves were the scene of traffic, 
its salt-works famous, and its people busy and 
well-to-do. * * It is the best seaport in France, ' ' 
extravagantly wrote Montluc in his Commen- 
taries, in 1568 ; and, four years later. La Pope- 
liniere went even further, declaring it to be 
" one of the safest and finest ports in all Eu- 
rope.^' *^ Here you hear every known lan- 
guage spoken,'' reported Nicholas Alain in 
1598. The spirit of enterprise was in the town ; 
the sailors and merchants of Brouage were 
noted throughout Biscayan France, with those 
of La Rochelle and liochefort, just as those 
of St. Malo and Havre and Rouen and Dieppe 
were noted along the more northerly coasts 
of Brittany and Normandy. 

The name of Champlain 's father was An- 
toine de Champlain; that of his mother was 



The Making of a Soldier 

Marguerite Le Roy. Antoine was engaged in 
the fisheries, and afterward became a sea- 
captain. One of Samuers uncles, a brother 
of Antoine, was also a commander of sea-craft 
— a noted one. He was called ^ * The Provencal 
Captain, ' ' and was at times employed as pilot 
in important naval movements. Antoine was 
not a rich man, but neither was he very poor ; 
he probably made a comfortable living, and 
was evidently able to give his son a good all- 
around education and a promising start in life, 
as his wisest legacy. 

Of Samuel's boyhood and youth we know 
few details. He played and studied with otlier 
boys of his age ; and we can surmise that he 
was as active in games as he was proficient at 
his lessons, for he was a hardy, healthy lad, 
fond of exercise and outdoor life. He ex- 
plored with his companions the far-stretching 
parallelograms into which the flooded salt 
marshes were divided by low embankments; 
and at the end of the summer drying season he 
helped, perhaps, in boyish sport, to gather the 
salt and pile it into tall cones, or shovel it into 
canvas bags to be taken on packhorses to the 
quays. He ranged the greener country beyond 
the marshes, and followed up the low bank of 
the little river Seudre, making easy acquaint- 
ance with the quiet peasantry. When not for- 

3 



Champlain 

bidden by the sentinels, he with his companions 
raced along the tops of the then new fortifica- 
tion walls, built by Italian engineers under 
order of the ministers of Charles IX, peering 
over into the moat, and unconsciously making 
himself familiar with the approved forms of 
bastions and ramparts. It is imaginable that 
the young French army officers of the garrison 
took a liking to the boy, attracted by his quick 
eyes and his eager interest in everything, and 
gave him an insight into fort-building and fort- 
holding and the work and pleasure of a sol- 
dier ^s life. He stared with interested gaze at 
the frequent newcomers in the Brouage streets 
— swarthy sailors from Spain and Portugal, 
red-sashed Basques, blue-eyed fisher-folk from 
Brittany, rough English seamen, or portly 
trading merchants from the Baltic towns of 
the North German coast. Most of all, he loved 
the wharves and the shipping ; and his father 
assuredly took him on frequent trips in his 
coasting vessel, and taught him little by little 
how to manage sea-going craft for himself. 
He learned to take soundings, and to shift 
sail, and to use the wonderful mariner 's com- 
pass which had revolutionized navigation and 
had enabled men to adventure fearlessly on all 
the known seas of the globe. The rough, free 
life toughened his frame, and the salt winds 

4 



The Making of a Soldier 

bronzed his cheek. The ocean and its mysteries 
fascinated him. * ^ Navigation is the art, ' ' he 
wrote, years after, ^ ^ which has powerfully at- 
tracted me ever since my boyhood, and has led 
me on to expose myself almost all my life to 
the impetuous buffetings of the sea.^' 

It was a notable time in the world's history 
in which to live. Europe had wakened from 
her brutalizing sleep of the Middle Ages. The 
invention of printing, and later of paper-mak- 
ing, had brought to her books and knowledge. 
The art ideas of Italy, penetrating northward, 
had burst into the bloom of the Renaissance, 
that potent new birth of beauty and taste. Co- 
pernicus had advanced novel and striking the- 
ories about the earth and the universe, destined 
to overthrow and reconstruct men 's most deep- 
ly rooted beliefs. A mighty religious reforma- 
tion had swept over the Continent, and had 
quickened the religious life alike of those who 
believed in its mission and message and of 
those who did not. Commerce was stirring. 
In the north the cities of the Hanseatic League, 
and in the south the great Italian republics, 
had long set an alluring example of commercial 
prosperity, which was now beginning to be 
followed by middle Europe. And, most im- 
portant of all, it was an age of exploration 
and discovery. America had been revealed 

5 



Champlain 



by Columbus, the century before, and every 
succeeding voyage to its distant and little- 
known shores had increased men's curiosity 
and interest in the great new continent. The 
Straits of Magellan had been passed, the Cape 
of Good Hope rounded, and the wide Pacific 
Ocean thus entered from both sides. Drake 
was making his first circumnavigation of the 
globe, returning to tell of the strange countries 
and stranger races which he had discovered. 
The world had suddenly grown immensely 
larger. Every ship that put into Brouage 
Harbor had tales to tell of new and marvelous 
lands beyond the seas. The fishing vessels that 
sailed yearly after Newfoundland cod brought 
back accounts of the painted red men of the 
North American coasts. Reports that reached 
Europe of Spain's marvelous conquests in 
Mexico and Peru hinted at untold treasures 
of gold and precious stones, and fired other 
nations with zeal to find and subdue equally 
rich countries for themselves. Portugal had 
opened up anew the wealth of ancient Asia. 
Little wonder that the imagination of young 
Samuel Champlain, as of so many other ambi- 
tious youths of his time, was alight with the 
passion for adventure and the stirring career 
of the sea. 
Who were the chief actors on the world- 

6 



The Making of a Soldier 

stage during these years when Samuel was 
playing as a boy in the streets of Brouage and 
later learning coastwise navigation on his 
father's vessel! Catholic Philip II, narrow 
and intolerant, had succeeded Charles V on 
the throne of Spain. That nation's power was 
at its height. Philip's ships were on every 
sea. Half the New World and a large part 
of the Old were his. He was waging sav- 
age war against the Netherlands, who were 
heroically fighting for independence. Protes- 
tant Elizabeth was Queen of England. She 
sympathized with the Netherlands, and for this 
and other reasons Philip prepared to crush her 
with his famous Armada. It was a battle of 
giants that was fought out, there on the rough 
waters of the Channel, in the year Champlain 
became of age ; ^ and the rest of Europe ceased 
for a moment from its own quarrelings, and 
watched it tensely. Elizabeth 's war-ships and 
war-captains routed and broke up the Spanish 
armaments, and all England drew a long 
breath of relief. The greatest danger in her 
history was passed. We can imagine the ex- 
citement and interest in the port towns of 
France when mariners brought in the news 
of that momentous naval fight. How the folk 
of Brouage flocked to the wharves, to talk with 

* Assuming the year of his birth to have been 1567. 

7 



Champlain 



the sailors who had just put into the busy 
little harbor, and hear from them exciting nar- 
ratives, gathered from participants or eye- 
witnesses, of the great sea-battle ! Old Antoine 
and his tall son must often have sat in one of 
the little taverns down by the shipping, plying 
some Breton captain or mate with honest coun- 
try wine, and listening to his vivid yarns, 
which, we may be sure, lost nothing in the 
telling. There was a feeling of relief, even 
in Catholic France. The Spaniards were a 
cruel race, hated, alike in war and in peace, 
by other nations. It was just as well that 
their overbearing power should be curbed. 

In Eastern Europe, too, interesting events 
were taking place. The Turks were pressing 
in and threatening civilization itself. Venice 
and the Pope were fighting them valiantly; 
neighboring powers were aiding to hold back 
the infidels ; and even Spain, with all her other 
concerns, found means to take part in the strug- 
gle against them. In the north, the new and 
barbaric power of Russia, under Ivan the Ter- 
rible, was rising into might. Germany, under 
Maximilian II and Rudolf II, was compara- 
tively quiet, but stood ready to take a hand 
in war or politics. East or West, whenever 
she might deem that her interests demanded it. 

Thus conflict was everywhere. It seemed 

8 



The Making of a Soldier 

the natural and normal state of things for na- 
tions to be in clash of arms. Champlain, in 
addition to his love for adventure, imbibed 
almost of necessity a love for war ; and indeed 
events nearer home had made him familiar 
alike with its gloom and its glamour. 

For France too was in conflict — in conflict 
with herself, in these days of Champlain 's 
young manhood. There were excitements 
enough, even around the clay-bottomed salt 
marshes of Brouage, without seeking adven- 
ture in other lands. 

Catherine de' Medici was the real ruler of 
France, behind her three weak sons, kings 
successively as Francis II, Charles IX, and 
Henry III ; and the long and bitter civil wars 
between Catholics and Huguenots had for 
years been desolating the country. The ancient 
province of Saintonge, in which was Brouage, 
did not escape. In fact, the struggle was par- 
ticularly fierce in that region. Saintonge was 
a noted center of Huguenot Protestantism ; and 
just north of it was the Huguenots' greatest 
stronghold, the city of La Rochelle. Brouage 
itself was Catholic ; and the two parties fought 
for its possession. Before Champlain was a 
dozen years old, the town had been • captured 
first by one party and then by the other. Sam- 
uel had seen sharp fighting in its streets ; per- 

9 



Champlain 



haps he had climbed upon the roof of his home 
and with his own boyish arm thrown stones 
down upon the Protestant invaders. Yet this 
was but in youthful ardor ; for as he grew up, 
he came to know better his Huguenot fellow 
countrymen and friends, and to respect them ; 
and though he himself remained all his life a 
stanch Catholic, he was soon to be found sid- 
ing with Henry of Navarre against the Catho- 
lic League and the Guises. 

In 1578 Henry III, then King of France, 
gained a firm hold on Brouage, and held it 
thereafter, despite all the attacks of the Rochel- 
lais. In 1586, the latter, under orders from 
the Prince of Cond(^, tried to ruin the port by 
blocking up the channel ; sinking twenty scows 
loaded with stone at the mouth of the harbor. 
Brouage 's governor, Frangois d'Espinay de 
St. Luc, was unable to prevent this act; but 
he defended the town itself with stubbornness, 
and at length drove off the invaders by a bril- 
liant sortie. The harbor was partly cleared, 
though it was never again as good as before ; 
and the faithful little town was officially made 
a military and naval post, with fuller protec- 
tion on the part of the royal troops. 

But Henry III, two years after this, was 
assassinated, and the right to the throne passed 
to the gallant and popular Henry of Navarre. 

10 



The Making of a Soldier 

Henry, however, was a Protestant; and the 
Catholic Guises, a powerful ducal family, aided 
by Philip of Spain, seized on this fact to claim 
the crown for the Cardinal de Bourbon, 
uncle of the King of Navarre. Bourbon was 
old, and the plan was to have him succeeded 
by one of the Guises, the Duke of Mayenne. 

'' The knight of the white plume '^ had 
therefore to fight for his rights. All the Prot- 
estants in France were with him. Many Cath- 
olics, too, joined his standard ; for while they 
disapproved his religion, they acknowledged 
the right of his claim to the throne ; and, more- 
over, they had no desire to further the machi- 
nations of the King of Spain in his efforts to 
get a military grip on their country. 

Samuel de Champlain, Catholic though he 
was, was one who felt thus; and so did the 
fighting governor of Brouage, D'Espinay de 
St. Luc. The latter hastened to offer his serv- 
ices to the King of Navarre. This was Cham- 
plain ^s opportunity. He was now in his early 
twenties, and burning to try his hand at the 
game of war. St. Luc doubtless knew of the 
family, and may well have formed a liking for 
the alert, well-built, good-looking young fel- 
low ; and soon we find Champlain in the army 
of Navarre, serving under Marshal d'Aumont, 
St. Luc^s brother-in-law. 

11 



Champlain 



Almost at the first of the nine-years' war 
which now began came a stroke of good for- 
tune for Henry. Forced to retire from the 
vicinity of Paris, he fell back into Normandy ; 
and there he found a stanch adherent in old 
Aymar de Chastes, governor of the town and 
castle of Dieppe, a knight-commander, and a 
nobleman of high character and much influ- 
ence. De Chastes declared for Navarre, and 
threw Dieppe and the neighboring country to 
his support. This gave Henry and his follow- 
ers new heart. With Dieppe behind them, they 
could fight with effect, as one fights with his 
back to a stone wall. They turned and met 
the advancing Leaguers at Arques, three miles 
from Dieppe, and gained a signal victory. 

That Champlain took part in this battle is 
highly probable, for his superior officer, D ^Au- 
mont, fought in it. Furthermore, we find De 
Chastes later the firm friend and patron of 
Champlain ; and one may conjecture that this 
acquaintance, which continued and strength- 
ened till De Chastes 's death, fourteen years 
after, was begun in the encampment of the 
army near Dieppe, and cemented in the bril- 
liant conflict at Arques. 

In the next year, 1590, at Ivry, Henry gained 
another important victory ; and from that time, 
Ms prestige and power increased rapidly. He 

12 



The Making of a Soldier 

abjured Protestantism, thus removing, in the 
view of thousands of devout Catholics, the only 
objection to his claim to the throne. The step 
made Champlain his still more ardent sup- 
porter. The young soldier from Brouage was 
distinguishing himself. Philip 11 had sent 
Spanish troops into France, overland from the 
Netherlands and also by sea from Spain. 
These were to aid the Holy League, and re- 
enforce the Duke of Mayenne, who, the Cardi- 
nal de Bourbon having died, now took up the 
claim to the crown. Henry had thus both 
Frenchmen and Spaniards to fight. In the 
end, the Spaniards proved the more obstinate 
foes ; and in the latter years of the war, they 
stubbornly held Brittany, where, together with 
the army of the Duke de Mercoeur, a brother- 
in-law of the late king, Henry III, they kept 
the troops of Navarre actively engaged. 

It was in Brittany that Champlain fought. 
He served first, as was said, under D 'Aumont, 
and was doubtless in the battle of Ivry, as well 
as of Arques. D 'Aumont was afterward killed 
by a musket-shot at the siege of Camper in 
upper Brittany in 1595, and St. Luc, his lieu- 
tenant-general, succeeded to the command. 
Champlain, who had risen to be quartermaster, 
thus found himself serving under his old Brou- 
age governor — a circumstance doubtless 

13 



Champlain 



agreeable to both, with former associations as 
something of a common bond between them. 
St. Luc, after being promoted to the head of 
the artillery service, was himself killed by a 
Spanish cannon-shot while before Amiens in 
1597. Champlain now came under a third gen- 
eral. Marshal Charles de Brissac, who had been 
governor of Paris, and who, three years before, 
had opened the gates of that city to Henry, as 
Aymar de Chastes had opened the gates of 
Dieppe. Under De Brissac, Champlain con- 
tinued to serve to the close of the war. 

Finally the obstinate struggle was ended. 
Henry of Navarre was recognized as Henry 
IV of France. Mayenne and his army sur- 
rendered, and the land was at peace. France 
was about to enter on a period of unexamx)led 
prosperity. 



14 



CHAPTER II 

THE MAKING OF A SAILOR 

1598-1601 

The army in Brittany was mustered out. 
The Spanish soldiers there were brought to- 
gether at the port of Blavet, since called Port 
Louis, an old fortified Breton town, to await 
transports to carry them to their own land. 

Samuel Champlain was now about thirty. 
Active service had strengthened him and made 
him able to withstand hardship. His work as 
quartermaster in outfitting and provisioning 
large bodies of troops had made him self-reli- 
ant. He was able to direct men and to accept 
large responsibility. The young lieutenant 
had enjoyed his military experiences ex- 
tremely. But now that chapter was closed. 
There was to be no more fighting in France 
for many a year. He had outgrown the pro- 
vincial life of his native town, and could not 
go back there to sail a lumbering trading 
schooner up and down the French coasts, or 

15 



Champlain 



to captain a fishing-smack to Newfoundland. 
Yet his love for the sea was as keen as ever. 

That seafaring uncle of his, " the Provengal 
Captain/' as it happened, had just been en- 
gaged by the officers of Philip as a pilot-gen- 
eral for the transportation home of the Spanish 
troops in France ; and he came to Blavet, with 
a small fleet of French merchant vessels which 
he had collected, prepared to embark the sol- 
diers. When Champlain learned of this, he 
perceived at once a fine opportunity for an 
interesting cruise and new adventures. He 
would go with his uncle to Spain. Perhaps 
there he might find an opportunity to make 
a trip to the Spanish West Indies in the New 
World. Rumor had told alluring tales of the 
tropic beauty and the incredible riches of these 
islands and the mainland of Mexico; but to 
visit them was not easy for any but Span- 
iards, for Philip jealously excluded all foreign 
travel and trade. Champlain 's hope was that, 
aided by his uncle's new position, he might 
find means of taking passage on one of the 
ships of the small flotilla which Spain yearly 
sent out to her Western possessions. 

At Blavet Champlain found a bustling scene 
— a scene alike of order and disorder. His 
recent commander. Marshal de Brissac, was 
superintending the embarkation of the sol- 

16 



The Making of a Sailor 

diery — a difficult and vexatious task, then as 
now. De Brissac was aided by a Spanish offi- 
cial, General Soubriago, who had been sent 
from Spain for that purpose. In the harbor 
lay the vessels, large and small, into which 
the soldiers were being sorted by companies 
and small detachments. Champlain had no 
difficulty in finding his uncle's ship, the St. 
Julian. It was conspicuous in size, being 
of five hundred tons burden, which was very 
large for those days; ^^a strong vessel, and 
a good sailer," Champlain says, from subse- 
quent experience. He had a hearty greeting 
from the old seaman, her commander, who had 
always liked his nephew and was now rather 
proud of him, and who proved more than glad 
to have his company on the voyage and to 
utilize his nautical skill. 

The work of embarkation was over at last, 
and De Brissac must have felt relief and pro- 
found satisfaction when his task was com- 
pleted, and he saw the transports bearing the 
detested Spaniards, so lately the bitter enemies 
of his king, hoist sail, raise anchor, and slowly 
pass out of the harbor. It was August, 1598. 
Now at last his country was to have calm and 
rest for a time ; and he himself, presently to 
be made a duke, might look forward to a score 
and more of years of leisure and honor, ere 
3 17 



Champlaiii 



he should die in peace on his own estates of 
Brissac in Anjou. 

Champlain's long- felt eagerness for sea- 
travel was now to be gratified. What keen 
satisfaction he must have felt, as he paced the 
broad deck of his uncle's vessel, or aided in 
the responsible task of ordering the course of 
the fleet that implicitly followed! This — 
like the rough outdoor army life in wide 
Brittany — was indeed living. No stutfy re- 
cluse's life for Champlain ! No dull merchan- 
dizing in a provincial town, no moralizing in 
a secluded convent. Not even the gay if empty 
life of a courtier in Paris would have con- 
tented him for long ; though, with his soldierly 
figure and handsome face, his tact and good 
temper and cheerful disposition, and his edu- 
cation, which was very creditable for those 
days, he would assuredly have been made a 
court favorite and might have tasted pleasure 
to the fullest. He wanted action, novelty, a 
full, free life ; he wanted to accomplish things, 
to strike out new paths, to make an honorable 
name for himself as a pioneer and leader, in 
those times of fascinating discovery. 

Almost at the outset, an adventure befell the 
fleet. Ten days after leaving Blavet, they were 
enveloped in a dense fog off Cape Finisterre. 
The vessels were separated, and the one which 

18 



The Making of a Sailor 

carried General Soubriago ran on a rock and 
sprang a bad leak. Danger threatened the 
other ships also. Fortunately the fog lifted 
during the following day. The pilot was able 
to collect his fleet again, and signaled to make 
sail for Bayona, on the Galician coast just 
south of them, where they spent six days re- 
pairing the damages done to the generaPs 
ship. 

Kounding CajDe Vincent, they proceeded to 
Cadiz. This was their destination, and here 
the transports disembarked the troops. It was 
Champlain's first visit to a foreign city. We 
may readily picture the intense interest with 
which he explored the picturesque Cadiz 
streets, noting with observant eyes the appear- 
ance and manners of the people, and beginning 
the first of his long collection of free-hand 
sketches and carefully drawn maps. 

The French vessels were now to return home. 
But General Soubriago had noted the St. Ju- 
lian as an exceptionally stanch and swift vessel. 
He proposed to Champlain^s uncle to re- 
main for the present, with the ship, in the serv- 
ice of Spain. Champlain himself was of course 
delighted. He had been hoping for some hap- 
pening of this kind. They remained for an 
entire month at Cadiz, and when not busy with 
his duties on board ship, he roamed through 

19 



Champlain 



the town and made excursions into the neigh- 
boring country. 

From Cadiz, the Provengal pilot was ordered 
to San Lucar de Barrameda, a little to the 
north of Cadiz, where the Guadalquivir flows 
down to the sea. Here the St. Julian lay for 
three months, and Champlain had opportunity 
of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the 
town and its vicinity. He also made a trip 
up the river to Seville. 

He had already begun to write a narrative 
of his journey. This was for the perusal of 
King Henry and his ministers ; and the manu- 
script seems to have been afterward presented 
to Champlain ^s good friend Aymar de Chastes, 
the sturdy old governor of Dieppe. After hav- 
ing been lost to sight for two hundred and 
fifty years, this manuscript came anew to light 
in Dieppe, about 1855 — an important discov- 
ery, which filled out many missing facts in 
Champlain 's life. The narrative is illustrated 
with numerous sketch-maps and pen-drawings 
which add greatly to its interest and value. 

All his life, Chamjalain continued this in- 
valuable habit of diary-keeping and map-mak- 
ing; and it is thus to his own writings that 
the world owes most of its knowledge of his 
career, as well as many authoritative descrip- 
tions of primitive races and customs of the 

20 



The Making of a Sailor 

New World. His drawings and sketches, while 
they seem crude to modern eyes, really show 
an ability in draughtsmanship rather remark- 
able in a man of affairs, or indeed in almost 
any one of that era ; and his maps, always as 
detailed and exact as he could possibly make 
them, evidence a painstakingness and close ob- 
servation which were characteristic of the man. 
At San Lucar, the royal flotilla which made 
yearly trips to the West Indies was fitting out ; 
and Champlain, while the St. Julian lay in 
port, must often have cast envious eyes at the 
strong galleons preparing to sail, destined to 
return laden with the rich annual tribute of 
spices and sugar from the islands and of pre- 
cious metals from the mines of Peru. At this 
time a most opportune thing occurred. ^ ^ There 
arrived, ' ^ writes Champlain, ^ ^ by command of 
the king, a noble named Don Francisque Co- 
lombe, a Knight of Malta, to be general of the 
armament. Seeing our vessel prepared and 
ready for service, and knowing by the report 
which had been made to him that it was strong 
and very good under sail for its burthen, he re- 
solved to make use of it, and take it at the 
ordinary freight, which is one crown per ton 
a month. So that I had occasion to rejoice, 
seeing my hopes revive — and the more so, that 
the Provencal Captain, my uncle, having been 

21 



Champlain 



retained by General Soubriago to serve else- 
where, and thus not being able to make the 
voyage, committed to me the charge of the 
ship, to have the care of it, which I accepted 
very willingly. Upon that, we sought the said 
Seigneur, General Colombe, to know if he 
would have it for agreeable that I should make 
the voyage ; which he freely granted, with evi- 
dence of being well pleased, promising me his 
favor and assistance, which he has not since 
denied me on occasion. ' ' ^ 

Our young adventurer might well again 
felicitate himself upon his good luck. The 
fates were evidently favorable to his ambi- 
tions. 

The flotilla set sail early in January, 1599. 
A transatlantic voyage was a long affair, three 
hundred years ago. Steadily westward the 
galleons sailed, occasionally vexed by semi- 
tropical storms, but for the most part having 
favoring winds ; yet over two months elapsed 
before they found themselves among the Wind- 
ward Isles of the Caribbean. 

Here they were indeed in a new world — a 
world of strange native races, of unfamiliar 

' This and a few others of the passages in this book quoted 
from Champlain's own writings are from translations in the 
Memoir of Champlain by Alice Wilmere, published by the Hak- 
luyt Society. The rest have been newly translated. 

22 



The Making of a Sailor 

flora and fauna, of novel sights everywhere. 
Champlain's pen and pencil found full em- 
ployment. Passing the little island of Deseade, 
the first land sighted, the voyagers made their 
initial landing on Guadeloupe — seeking fresh 
water, which they may very well have needed, 
after nearly seventy days at sea. They spent 
three days in the small harbor of Macou, glad 
of a few walks and climbs on shore after the 
confinement of ship life ; filled their casks with 
drinking water, and brought on board divers 
new and curious fruits. Here they caught their 
first glimpses of the island aborigines — fully 
three hundred of them; but it was a distant 
glimpse, for ^^ they fled into the mountains at 
our approach, '' says Champlain, ** without it 
being in our power to overtake them — any one 
of them being more quick in running than 
any of our men who tried to overtake them.'' 
Unless Champlain has made an error in the 
order of his itinerary, the St. Julian, after 
coasting the Virgin Islands, turned abruptly 
southward to Margarita, an island just off the 
Venezuelan coast, where our voyager was 
much interested in the pearl-fisheries for 
which the place was and still is a center. 
* ^ Every day, ' ' he records, * * more than three 
hundred canoes leave the harbor, and go about 
a league to sea to fish for pearls, in ten or 

23 



Champlain 



twelve fathoms water. The fishing is done by 
negroes, slaves of the king of Spain, who take 
a little basket under their arm, and with it 
plunge to the bottom of the sea, and fill it with 
ostrormes, which resemble oysters ; then go up 
again into their canoes, and return to port to 
discharge them, in a spot destined for that pur- 
pose where officers of the king of Spain receive 
them. ^ * 

As was his wont, Champlain drew a map of 
the island, and also made a very creditable 
picture of the diving scene he describes. 

It is highly probable that this visit to Mar- 
garita came later in their two years' sojourn 
in these lands; for the next point visited 
was San Juan in Porto Rico, which is in close 
proximity to the Virgin Islands. 

San Juan, a hitherto flourishing Spanish 
colony, was found in ruins, owing to a recent 
descent of the English under the Earl of Cum^ 
berland. Approaching with twelve ships, he 
had made a secret landing, and had surprised 
and captured the garrison of the fort. He had 
carried off the leading merchants, designing 
to depopulate the town and later repeople it 
with English colonists ; had pillaged the place 
of sugar, hides, and gold and silver, and had 
taken away its fifty pieces of artillery. Gen- 
eral Colombe was in no little consternation at 

24 



The Making of a Sailor 

seeing the magnitude of this calamity. How- 
ever, he promptly set about the work of re- 
building. He summoned from the mountains 
those of the inhabitants who had fled there 
for refuge and were still hiding in panic. He 
provided soldiers, cannon, and new supplies 
from his fleet, and in a month's time he had 
repaired much of the mischief done. 

Champlain was often ashore. He had a fac- 
ulty of making friends with the native races — 
a faculty which afterward proved of the great- 
est value in his intercourse with the Indian 
tribes in Canada. He tasted all the strange 
fruits, such as shaddocks, plantains, papaws, 
and the like ; caught some of the little chame- 
leons which abound in the West Indies, and 
which he mistakenly represents as having only 
two legs each ; ^ and made inquiries about the 
chief Porto Rican products, sugar, ginger, mo- 
lasses, tobacco, and hides. He constructed a 
map of the island, partly from examination 
and partly from the descriptions of the in- 
habitants. 

We have not space minutely to follow our 
active French captain through his travels in 
the Spanish main. At San Juan the fleet di- 
vided, and the St. Julian, with two other ships 
and some despatch-boats, visited San Do- 

— .. - 

* The sketch was doubtless made afterward from memory. 

25 



Champlain 



mingo, having a little brush there with some 
French vessels which were attempting contra- 
band trade. They next coasted along part of 
the south shore of Cuba, past Santiago, and 
touched for a time at the Cayman Islands, 
where they amused themselves catching rab- 
bits and fishing for porgies. One hardly 
knows whether to regard the voyage as a busi- 
ness-like naval expedition or as a leisurely 
pleasure cruise. It seems to have been an odd 
combination of both. Time was of less account 
then than now, and doubtless their sailing- 
orders were not very imperative. 

Their most important destination, however, 
now lay before them — the land of Mexico ; and 
they set sail again westward, passing the penin- 
sula of Yucatan, and at length dropped anchor 
in a harbor on the mainland coast, near the 
present port of Vera Cruz. Here they were to 
stay for some time. After his ship and shore 
duties were attended to, Champlain obtained 
permission from the admiral to make a jour- 
ney inland to the city of Mexico itself. He 
is enthusiastic over the beauty of the country ; 
admires the forests with their rare woods, the 
birds of bright plumage, the spreading plains 
with their herds of cattle, horses, and sheep, 
the fertile agricultural lands, and the fine cli- 
mate. *^ But all the contentment I had felt 

26 



The Making of a Sailor 

at the sight of things so agreeable,'^ he says, 
^' was but little in regard to that which I ex- 
perienced when I beheld that beautiful city 
of Mexico, which I did not suppose to be so 
superbly built, with splendid temples, palaces, 
and fine houses ; and the streets well laid out, 
where are seen the large and handsome shops 
of the merchants, full of all sorts of very rich 
merchandise. ' ^ 

Here our traveler spent an entire month, full 
of novel sights and experiences. He acquired 
a vast amount of information. He appears 
to have talked with everybody — Spanish sol- 
diers and priests, resident merchants, and the 
natives of the country. He was a born inter- 
viewer. His observations were at first-hand 
wherever practicable, and most of his state- 
ments are well sifted and accurate. All that 
he learned, he wrote down in his narrative. 
He gives elaborate accounts of the vegetable 
and animal products of the country. Occasion- 
ally he is rather ludicrously misled by the re- 
ports of others, as where he tells gravely of 
' ' dragons of strange figure, having the head 
approaching to that of an eagle, the wings like 
those of a bat, the body like a lizard, and with 
only two somewhat large feet; the tail scaly, 
and it is as large as a sheep; they are not 
dangerous, and do no harm to anybody, 

27 



Champlain 



though to see them you would say the con- 
trary. ' ^ 

A more possible, though perhaps not more 
probable, story is his account of a native mode 
of fishing with hermit-crabs on the coasts of 
this country. ^' There is a small kind of ani- 
mal like a crawfish, excepting that they have 
the hinder parts devoid of shell ; but they have 
this property — of seeking the empty shells of 
snails and lodging therein the part which is 
uncovered, dragging the shell always after 
them and only to be dislodged by force. The 
fishermen collect these little beasts in the 
woods, and make use of them for fishing ; and 
when they wish to catch fish, having taken the 
little animals from the shell, they attach them 
by the middle of the body to their lines, instead 
of hooks, then throw them into the sea, and 
when the fish think to swallow them, they seize 
the fish with their two powerful claws and will 
not let them go ; and by these means the fisher- 
men catch fish of the weight even of five or 
six pounds.'^ 

In the main, however, our author is not un- 
duly credulous, and tells far fewer ^ ^ travelers ' 
tales '^ than might have been expected in that 
era of easy belief and limited knowledge. He 
writes both entertainingly and discerningly of 
the native tribes, their appearance, habits, and 

28 



The Making of a Sailor 

superstitions; and, as usual, fully illustrates 
his accounts. He is particularly interested in 
Spain's manner of treating these races, evi- 
dently perceiving in his own mind ' ' how not 
to do it." He draws interesting sketches of 
the early Spanish method of persuasion in re- 
ligious matters— a method that had to be con- 
siderably modified before it became efficacious 
with the obstinate Mexicans. 

Returning to Vera Cruz, Champlain now 
took the St. Julian to the Isthmus of Panama, 
anchoring at Porto Bello, near the present As- 
pinwall. He pronounced this a decidedly dis- 
agreeable region, rainy, hot, and fever-giving. 
The isthmus route overland was almost as im- 
portant then as now, all the riches from Span- 
ish Peru being brought by ship to Panama, and 
thence taken across on muleback to be laden 
on home-bound galleons. With our explorer's 
usual energy, he crossed to the other side of 
the isthmus, and viewed the Pacific Ocean from 
Panama Harbor. 

' ' One may judge, ' ' he writes in a remark- 
able passage, ' ' that if the four leagues of land 
which there are from Panama to the [Chagres] 
river were cut through, one might pass from 
the south sea to the ocean on the other side, 
and thus shorten the route by more than fifteen 
hundred leagues; and from Panama to the 

29 



Champlain 



Strait of Magellan would be an island, and 
from Panama to the New-found lands would 
be another island, so that the whole of America 
would be in two islands. ^ ' 

Champlain was not, as some have supposed, 
the first writer to make this suggestion of an 
interoceanic canal; though he none the less 
deserves credit for making it. The idea must 
often have occurred to the Spanish officials 
who had charge of the heavy isthmian traffic. 
As early as 1550 a Portuguese navigator 
named Antonio Galvao prepared a report in- 
dicating no less than four different routes; 
and his idea was taken up, a year later, by the 
Spanish historian Lopez Gomara, who pressed 
it unavailingly on the attention of the Emperor 
Charles V. Later, a Biscayan pilot named 
Gongueseche is said to have urged the matter 
on the Spanish government under Philip 11. 
His plan was to utilize the Atrato River, which 
flows into the Gulf of Darien, by connecting 
it with Cupica Bay on the south side of the 
isthmus. Philip even appointed two Flemish 
engineers to make, a survey of the route ; but 
partly because of their unfavorable report, and 
partly because of reasons of state connected 
with the mining monopoly, the king, by ad- 
vice of the Council for the Indies, disapproved 
the plan, and went so far as to forbid any 

30 



The Making of a Sailor 

of his subjects to propose it again on pain of 
death ! ,/ 

After a month's stay at Porto Bello, the stout 
St. Julian made her way back to Vera Cruz 
for a brief stop, and then with her companion 
vessels went to Havana, narrowly escaping 
shipwreck on the Yucatan coast in a violent 
hurricane. At Havana the entire flotilla was 
to unite, to proceed homeward in company. 
A long stay of four months was made here, 
Champlain undertaking meanwhile a little trip 
in another vessel to Cartagena in Colombia. 
Returning to Cuba, he wrote a lively and inter- 
esting description of the island and its people, 
embellished as usual with sketches and a map. 
He was especially impressed with Havana's 
fine harbor, and mentions Morro Fortress, 
which was even then in existence and ca- 
pable of holding a garrison of four hundred 
men. 

Finally, early in 1601, the fleet's leisurely 
itinerary was completed, and the galleons 
sailed for home, convoyed by the war- vessels, 
and richly laden with treasure and the much- 
prized products of the tropics. Two further 
adventures awaited them — one, a severetem- 
pest in mid-ocean, and the other a sharp little^ 
encounter on the part of the fighting vessels 
with two English war-ships off Cape St. Vin- 

31 



Champlain 



cent. The Englishmen were captured, and 
with these additional prizes the flotilla proudly 
sailed into the mouth of the Guadalquivir, and 
dropped anchor, after a total absence of two 
years and two months. 



32 



CHAPTER III 

THE EXPLORERS OF NEW FRANCE 

1601-1603 

The second chapter of Champlain's life was 
closed. He had found it quite as interesting 
as the first. He was now ^ ^ soldier and sailor 
too. ' ' What should be his next role 1 He was 
in the prime of early manhood. His body was 
sound, his mind was keen, his character lofty, 
his experience varied and valuable. He was 
truly a man for ^ ' high emprise. ' ' 

And it was as truly a time for high emprise. 
France was taking new courage under Henry 
IV. Her wounds were healing, her health and 
strength were coming back to her almost as 
by magic. Even the two years since Cham- 
plaints departure had wrought wonders. The 
nation was joyous with fresh hope and fresh 
energy. Its people were ready for new adven- 
tures on the world's broad stage. 

Following his arrival in Spain, Champlain 
was doubtless detained for several months be- 
4 33 



Champlain 

fore he could return to his own country. There 
was his ship to unload ; his report to the Span- 
ish authorities to make ; perhaps his pilot-uncle 
to seek out, in order to pay over the govern- 
ment subsidy agreed on by the authorities for 
the use of the vessel — *^ one crown per ton 
per month/' which, as the St. Julian was of 
five hundred tons burden and had been char- 
tered for upward of two years, made a sum 
of money approximating eight thousand dol- 
lars, equal, according to Gravier's scale of 
computation, to about seven times that sum 
at the present day. It was probably the end 
of the year (1601) before Champlain found 
himself in France again. He had with him 
the narrative of his trip, carefully written out, 
and illustrated in colors by his own hand. He 
proceeded to Paris, where he rendered to the 
king a full account of the journey, describing 
with minuteness the successful colonizing and 
treasure-getting methods of the Spaniards. 
No such full report of the mysterious and 
closely guarded secrets of the Spanish main 
had ever before come to the knowledge of the 
French authorities ; and its interest and value 
were at once perceived. The king, always quick 
to discern merit, formed a personal liking for 
the straightforward and enterprising traveler, 
and out of the royal funds, not then too abun- 

34 



The Explorers of New France 

dant, settled on Champlain a small but assured 
life income to enable him to live at court. 

Thus our adventurer, by the irony of a too 
friendly fate, found himself apparently en- 
meshed in the life he was most of all unwilling 
to lead — the idle life of a royal courtier. Per- 
haps he did not for a time find it so irksome 
as he had supposed it to be. He was of course 
something of a lion, after his West Indian 
wanderings and the subsequent marks of royal 
favor ; and his personality was of a kind to win 
friends. He became intimate with Lord 
Charles de Montmorency, Admiral of France, 
to whom he dedicated his first printed volume, 
two years later; he renewed, it may be sup- 
posed, his acquaintance with his old command- 
er, de Brissac; and he doubtless met many 
others of his fellow officers of the Brittany 
campaign, exchanging animated reminiscences 
of those stirring days. But especially he ce- 
mented his friendship with one of the most 
prominent personages in that campaign — 
brave old Aymar de Chastes, who had opened 
to the king the gates of Dieppe, and had fought 
with him loyally at Arques and Ivry. De 
Chastes was a noted and noble character, who 
had long warred for his country both on land 
and sea, who had filled important offices of 
state under successive reigns, and who, in spite 

35 



Champlain 



of his gray hairs, felt no more inclined than 
did the younger Champlain to pass his fu- 
ture years in uneventful repose. In fact, he 
was revolving in mind a momentous project at 
the very time when Champlain returned from 
Spain; and he eagerly summoned the new- 
comer from Paris to Dieppe to talk it over, 
rightly judging that he might prove inval- 
uable in aiding to carry the project into exe- 
cution. 

This project was nothing less than to found 
a permanent French colony on the continent of 
North America. 

Though the New World had been discovered 
more than a hundred years before, Europe — 
with the sole exception of Spain — had still no 
footing upon it. There had been numerous 
voyages of exploration on the part of other 
nations, and occasional attempts to effect 
settlements; the former had succeeded, the 
latter had not. The opportunity was open; 
and France, now at rest from civil strife, 
and waxing strong and confident again, might 
yet be the first to lay firm hold of that vast 
new land. 

This was De Chastes's ambition — truly no 
small one for a man who had already rounded 
out a life full of activities and honors, and 
who now might well, in these new, glad years 

36 



The Explorers of New France 

of peace and fruition, enjoy his remaining days 
in tranquillity. 

Champlain, we may be sure, was ready 
enough to be fired with such a project. It was 
exactly along the lines of his own ardent tastes, 
and De Chastes found the hardy voyager a 
man after his own heart. One can see the 
two men, the younger on a visit to the older, 
spending winter evenings before the huge fire 
of logs in the great hall of the castle of Dieppe, 
drinking hot spiced wine and eagerly talking 
of colonization adventures in the New World. 
Champlain could contribute much information 
and advice that was of value out of his fund 
of experiences in the Spanish colonies ; he pre- 
sented to his friend the manuscript narrative 
of his travels among those colonies, and the 
old governor conned with the closest interest 
its maps and its graphic pictures of scenes and 
people. 

Previous attempts on the part of French- 
men to explore a portion of the vast Western 
continent were familiar both to Champlain and 
De Chastes. They recalled, first of all, the 
three voyages of Jacques Cartier, made be- 
tween sixty and seventy years before. All 
France knew of those famous voyages and felt 
a pride in them. Samuel must often have 
heard them talked about in his boyhood in 

37 



Champlain 



Brouage, and must have listened to sage 
and salty old seamen who could perhaps 
tell of having met the great explorer in 
person in some coastwise port and of hav- 
ing heard from his own lips an account of 
his adventures. It was in 1534 that Cartier 
made his first voyage. Sent out by Francis I 
with two small vessels, he followed the track 
of the French and Basque fishing craft which 
already for many years had sailed regularly 
to the Banks for cod. Passing on beyond their 
farthest limits of operations, he sighted New- 
foundland, bore adventurously in through the 
Strait of Belle Isle, and found himself in the 
great gulf afterward named for St. Lawrence. 
He spent two months and more exploring this 
unknown inland sea; sighted and named nu- 
merous islands and harbors, entered a large 
bay which he called the Bale des Chaleurs, 
made acquaintance with various native tribes 
of the mainland, and set up on the coast of 
Gaspe a wooden cross thirty-four feet in 
height with the inscription, " Vive le Boi de 
France! ^' Then he sailed homeward again, 
with much to tell that would interest his coun- 
trymen, and with two kidnaped Indians to 
testify to its truth. 

In the following year he made another voy- 
age, pushing his way up the St. Lawrence as 

38 



The Explorers of New France 

far as the site of the future Montreal ; but this 
trip was less favored than the last, for Cartier 
experimented on spending a winter in the coun- 
try, lost a quarter of his men by exposure and 
scurvy, and was thankful to take the first op- 
portunity in the spring to make his way home. 
Six years after, he made a third journey, in 
connection with one Sieur de Roberval, who 
had a desire to found a colony in those new 
lands; but this plan utterly failed of accom- 
plishment, and France did not meddle with the 
Western continent again for a half century 
and more. 

The events that had especially set De 
Chastes to thinking were two very recent re- 
newals of these long-past undertakings to ex- 
plore and claim the great river of Canada for 
France. The first of these recent attempts had 
been made just three years previously, in 
1598^ — the year when Henry had finally 
gained a lasting peace for his long-troubled 
country, and when Champlain was at work 
aiding to embark the last remnant of the invad- 
ing Spanish troops at Blavet. Henry was 
grateful to all who had aided him in his ardu- 
ous fight for the throne ; particularly, perhaps, 

1 Some authorities, such as Bergeron, DeCourcy, and FerlanfJ, 
believe the date of this attempt to have been twenty years earlier, 
in 1578. 

39 



Champlain 

to his powerful supporters in Brittany, where 
the fighting had been hardest and had lasted 
the longest, and where timely aid had meant 
most to him. Accordingly, when a loyal Breton 
nobleman, the Marquis de la Roche, asked of 
the king the right to the vice-sovereignty over 
the distant and savage land once told of by 
Cartier, it was very readily granted to him. 
His plan was to form a colony for trade and 
settlement; but instead of seeking to form it 
of ' ^ brave men and free, ' ' he had recourse to 
the prisons, filling his vessel with convicts, 
who were assuredly not the stuff wherewith to 
build a new empire. De la Roche 's enterprise 
had a disastrous ending. Crossing the ocean, 
south of Cartier 's route, the first land he 
sighted was Sable Island, a dreary and wind- 
swept sand waste off the coast of Nova Scotia ; 
and here, for some reason, he made haste to 
land his would-be colonists — forty in all. Per- 
haps they had proved too turbulent a set to 
travel with farther in safety. The marquis 
himself, in a bark, with a small crew, sailed on 
to explore the mainland and find a suitable 
spot for a settlement. But a fierce and pro- 
longed westerly tempest frustrated his whole 
plan. His vessel was so small that, as De la 
Roche afterward told a friend, Poitrincourt, 
he could by leaning over the side wash his 

40 



The Explorers of New France 

hands in the sea. It could only run before the 
storm. Day after day, under bare poles or 
with but a rag of canvas set for headway, the 
craft was blown eastwardly across the waters, 
until its sailors were glad to be able to make 
a hazardous landing on their own native 
coast. 

De Chastes and Champlain of course knew 
of this voyage; but they did not then know 
its dramatic and tragic sequel, which indeed 
had not yet been enacted. De la Roche ap- 
pears to have fallen into political difficulties 
immediately on his return to his country. His 
fortune was impaired by his expedition, his 
privileges were curtailed by various intrigues, 
and he himself was for a time imprisoned ; and 
the poor wretches on Sable Island were per- 
force left to their fate. It was not until at 
least ^ve^ years after their marooning that 
the government, realizing their fearful plight, 
sent out a relief vessel to find them and bring 
them back. The rescuers found a scene of suf- 
fering and horror. Of the twoscore men 
scarce a dozen remained alive; the rest had 
died of hardship and hunger, or had been killed 
in brutal quarrels. For food, the castaways 
had had only fish, supplemented for a time by 
a few stray cattle found on the island, sur- 

J , , 

1 Lescarbot says five years ; Champlain, seven. 

41 



Champlain 



v^ivors of some previous shipwreck ; for cloth- 
ing, the skins of seals; for shelter, some 
weather-beaten timbers from former wrecks. 
With wild eyes, and with unkempt hair 
and beards, they looked, as an old chron- 
icler vividly says, like river-gods of yore, 
and so they seemed to the king when they were 
brought before him. Henry did what he could 
to recompense these ex-convicts for their terri- 
ble experiences ; he gave them each a sum of 
money, and set them free forever from all 
further process of law. 

Following this ill-fated expedition came an- 
other and more promising one. 

On the northern coast of Brittany there is 
a rugged old town whose people ha^e for cen- 
turies been foremost in all the maritime enter- 
prises of France, whether as fishers, traders, 
fighters, or explorers. They were hardy, ven- 
turesome, pertinacious. It was to St. Malo that 
Jacques Cartier belonged, and it was from that 
port that he sailed. It was St. Malo that con- 
tributed a large proportion of the fleet of dar- 
ing fishing craft which set forth each spring 
to cross the rough Atlantic and fish for cod 
off the Banks of Newfoundland. If there was 
marine adventure in hand, St. Malo was wont 
to bear a leading part in it. 

One of the prominent men in the ancient sea- 

42 



The Explorers of New France 

port, at the time of which we are telling, was 
a bluff and jovial individual known as the 
Sieur Francois du Pont Grav^, or Pontgrav^. 
He was a ship-owner and master mariner, and 
also a shrewd merchant and man of affairs. 
He was about forty-five or fifty years of age ; 
hardy, not afraid of labor or danger, always 
fond of a good story or a glass of prime Bor- 
deaux claret; in fine, an excellent companion 
for a long voyage or a lifetime of earnest work. 
He was married, his wife 's name being Chris- 
tine Martin ; and they had two children, Robert 
and Jeanne. For a quarter of a century this 
man, a leading and attractive figure in Can- 
ada 's early history, was to navigate the Atlan- 
tic and the St. Lawrence in the small vessels 
of the time, aiding to upbuild New France, 
braving, as Gravier well summarizes it, the 
storms of ocean and the perils of the great 
river, fogs, icebergs, famines, the constant dan- 
ger from pirates, and mutinies among his own 
crews. 

Pontgrav^ had already made several cruises 
to Canada, where he carried on a trade in furs 
with the Indians ; and he foresaw large profits 
in a monopoly of that trade, if such could be 
secured. He himself had not the requisite in- 
fluence at court; but there was another St. 
Malouin whom he knew, the Sieur Chauvin de 

43 



Champlain 



Pontliuict,^ a taciturn naval captain who liad 
served with credit on the king's side in the 
war and who had influential friends in the 
court circle. Pontgrav^ proposed to him to 
try to obtain a royal concession granting the 
sole rights to the fur trade for a term of years ; 
and Chauvin, who saw much gain in the plan, 
succeeded in doing so. The expedition which 
the two at once (1600) organized was success- 
ful from a business point of view. The profits 
were considerable, although thirteen of the six- 
teen men whom Chauvin left at Tadoussac for 
the winter died of cold and hardship. In the 
following year Chauvin sent over a vessel with 
equal pecuniary success. He made another 
voyage himself in 1602, but contracted an ill- 
ness on the trip which caused his death early 
in the following year, and the concession 
lapsed. 

This was the state of affairs that had awak- 
ened the interest of De Chastes. He asked for 
and obtained the vacant concession. There was 
little that Henry would not have granted to 
this tried and faithful friend. But De Chastes 
had no selfish purposes. His conception was 
wider and higher than that of Chauvin. As 

1 Dionne, following Breard, says that Chauvin was not a St. 
Malouin, as stated by Champlain, but had been born in Dieppe 
and was a resident of Honfleur. 

44 



The Explorers of New France 

a patriot he had at heart the extending of the 
empire; and as a devout Catholic, the spread 
of the church. He resolved, says Champlain, 
to proceed to America in person, ^* and dedi- 
cate the remainder of his life to the service of 
his God and of his king, by fixing his residence 
and living and dying there gloriously. ' ' 

De Chastes had communicated with Pont- 
grave, who, by virtue of his experience in pre- 
vious trips to Canada, was obviously the one to 
lead a new expedition. The St. Malouin ship- 
owner was found entirely ready to take the 
affair in hand. ^^ As the expenses were very 
great ' ' — ^we will let Champlain himself tell of 
the matter — ^^ the Sieur de Chastes '' (doubt- 
less on Pontgrave's shrewd advice) ^* formed 
a company with several gentlemen and with 
the principal merchants of Rouen and other 
places, on certain conditions ; this being done, 
vessels were prepared, as well for the execu- 
tion of the main design as for discovery and 
peopling the country. 

*^ Going from time to time to see the said 
Sieur de Chastes, judging that I might serve 
him in his design, he did me the honor, as I 
have said, to communicate something of it to 
me, and asked me if it would be agreeable to 
me to make the voyage, to examine the country 
and see what those engaged in the undertaking 

45 



Champlain 



should do. I told him that I was very much 
his servant, but that I could not give myself 
license to undertake the voyage without the 
commands of the king, to whom I was bound 
as well by birth as by the pension with which 
his majesty had honored me to maintain my- 
self near his person ; but that if it should please 
him to speak to the king about it and give me 
his commands, it would be very agreeable to 
me ; which he promised and did, and received 
the king's orders for me to make the voyage 
and make a faithful report thereof. ' ' 

The forming of the new company and the 
outfitting of the expedition occupied the whole 
of the year 1602 ; and it was not until early 
in the spring following that all was in readi- 
ness. The place of departure was Honfleur, 
a quaint old port near the wide mouth of the 
Seine, opposite Havre. There Champlain 
made acquaintance with Captain Pontgrave — 
a man with whom he was to be closely asso- 
ciated, in discovery, danger, and accomplish- 
ment, for twenty-five years. The two men were 
friends from the start. Champlain 's feeling 
for Pontgravi^, indeed, ripened into a real 
affection, and he himself later writes that he 
felt toward him as a son to a father. 



t 



6 



CHAPTER IV 

CHAMPLAIN ON THE ST. LAWRENCE 

1603 

It was on the fifteenth day of March, 1603, 
that the destined founder of New France first 
set sail for the country in which he was later 
to play so great a part. The start was un- 
propitious. A gale was blowing out in the 
Channel, and the voyagers were forced to put 
into Havre until the next day. Then they set 
forth again on the long journey. Courage and 
endurance were required in order to cross the 
Atlantic in those times. The vessels were 
small — scarcely more than river craft; they 
were cramped and ill-arranged, and of course 
very slow. During nearly two months, the 
two ships — the Bonne Renommee, commanded 
by Captain Pontgrave, and the Frangoise, com- 
manded by a Captain Prevert, also of St. Malo 
— worked their uncertain way over the waters, 
now tossed by storm, now threatened by ice, 
now wrapped in impenetrable fog. However, 

47 



Champlain 

all this afforded Pontgrav^ and Champlain, 
thus newly yet intimately brought together, 
the best of chances to become acquainted with 
each other. Burly Pontgrav^, we may be sure, 
wove interesting tales for his younger com- 
panion out of the experiences he had had with 
Chauvin in the regions which they were ap- 
proaching. He could spin other yarns, too, 
this jolly shipmate — yarns of accidents and 
adventures that had befallen him or other bold 
sailors of St. Malo ; capping a good story with 
a hearty laugh and a sounding slap on his 
listener's knee. Champlain on his part had 
also good store of tales to tell — tales likewise 
of the New World which they were nearing, 
but of a part of it so different from the north- 
ern solitudes which Pontgrave knew, so glow- 
ing with tropical vigor, as to seem almost of 
another and different continent. Champlain 
could speak in addition of war, and of its inci- 
dents, humorous or tragic ; and he too liked a 
joke and could tell a humorous anecdote, as 
is often evidenced in his writings. 

There were on board two passengers who 
must have aided to beguile the passage. These 
were Indians, natives of a Montagnais or Al- 
gonquin tribe, whom Pontgrave had brought 
with him to France on a previous trip. They 
do not appear to have been kidnaped, as were 

48 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

Cartier's natives, but to have gone of their 
own will. They had been taken before the 
king, in Paris, and had been well treated ; and 
Pontgrav6 counted on them as valuable inter- 
preters in his coming trade with their country- 
men. We may presume that Champlain, eager 
to learn, was quick to make their acquaintance 
and win their confidence while on shipboard. 
He had always a remarkable faculty of gain- 
ing the affection and trust of the natives, as 
Frontenac had years later — a faculty invalu- 
able through the whole of his career. Through 
the medium of the broken French which these 
two savages had picked up while in France, 
Champlain doubtless set himself to learn what 
he could of their language; and probably, de- 
spite Pontgrave's good-natured banter, made 
not a little progress with words and phrases 
during the long days of the voyage. 

It was not till the seventh of May that they 
sighted land. They were off the southern coast 
of Newfoundland, at the entrance to the St. 
Lawrence Gulf. Bearing still westward day 
by day, they passed into the gulf, between 
Newfoundland and Cape Breton Isle; kept 
on into sight of Anticosti, the great, desolate 
island which stands like a grim sentinel at the 
portals of the St. Lawrence River; and then, 
following the high shores of Gasp^, passed on 
5 49 



Champlain 



into the river, and finally, on the twenty-sixth 
of May, entered the port of Tadoussac at the 
mouth of the Saguenay. They had been sev- 
enty-five days on the voyage. 

Tadoussac was an unexcelled spot for trade, 
as Pontgrav^ had already found; and trade 
was as important to the expedition as was ex- 
ploration. There had been heavy expenses, 
which De Chastes 's company had not incurred 
without looking for reimbursement and profit. 
It was therefore the plan to leave a number of 
men here for the summer to barter for skins ; 
while Pontgrave and Champlain were free to 
go on up the river, in a small bark built for 
the purpose, and follow up the old track of 
Cartier. 

As the anchors were dropped, it was seen 
that the chances for immediate and busy traffic 
were bright. The long, high point across the 
Saguenay from Tadoussac was alive with 
Indians, who lost little time in paddling out 
to the ships in their birch-bark canoes, shout- 
ing up their raucous welcomes to Pontgrave 
and to their two traveled countrymen in 
his care. These Indians were tribes of the 
Algonquin family, one of the two great race 
divisions of eastern North America. The other 
family was that of the Iroquois, who lived in 
what is now the State of New York; and it 

50 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

was a recent victory against some of the Iro- 
quois that these Algonquins — a thousand of 
them, men, women, and children — had assem- 
bled to celebrate. 

After landing at Tadoussac, the Frenchmen 
rowed over to pay them a visit of ceremony, 
taking along of course the two natives who had 
made the wonderful journey across the great 
water. Champlain must have looked with keen 
curiosity on the shouting, yelling horde who 
at once thronged about, comparing them with 
the far different races which he had seen in the 
West Indies. The visitors were invited to the 
large pole-and-bark cabin of the chief, where 
a feast was in i^reparation. Here, in the pres- 
ence of eighty or a hundred braves, squatting 
in rows on opposite sides of the long cabin, 
the Algonquin chief made a long harangue of 
welcome to the French and declared amity and 
alliance. The two returned natives made ha- 
rangues in return, telling of the amazing things 
they had beheld in France and of the power 
and wealth of its people ; and the pipe of peace 
being solemnly handed around, Champlain 
was initiated into the mysteries of tobacco- 
smoking. These grave proceedings were fol- 
lowed by a feast and an Indian dance, which 
Champlain watched and afterward '^ wrote 
up '^ with evident enjoyment. 

51 



Champlain 



The Indians were clearly pleased with their 
new friends, for the next day they broke camp 
en masse and came across to Tadoussac to set 
up their cabins. A mingling of fur-trading 
and festivity now went on with much briskness. 
Champlain went about freely among the sav- 
ages, and studied their ways with curiosity 
and care. He talked to them, partly through 
the two interpreters, partly by means of the 
few words he had already picked up; ques- 
tioned them about their mode of living, noted 
their characteristics and customs, and inter- 
viewed them about their religious ideas. The 
chief told him that they really believed there 
was a God, who had made all things. ^ ' Then 
I asked him," he says, " since they believed 
in a God, how did he put them into the world, 
and whence came they? He answered me: 
* After God had made all things, he took a 
number of arrows and put them into the 
ground, and men and women came out, who 
have multiplied in the world up to the present 
time ; and it was thence they came. ' ' ' Cham- 
plain in return gave his version of the crea- 
tion, but without making much impression. 
The savages seem to have found the tradition 
of creation from dust or a rib no easier to 
accept than that of creation from an arrow. 

Champlain improved part of his three 

52 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

weeks' stay at Tadoussac by making a trip 
of forty or fifty miles up the Saguenay. He 
admired the stream—' ' a fine river and of as- 
tonishing depth ''—more than the country 
through which it flowed— ' 'a most unattract- 
ive region, where I did not find a level 
league. ' ' He obtained from the Indians a very 
accurate description of the upper part of the 
river, and even gained a hint of a sea which 
is salt ' ' far to the north, destined to be after- 
ward discovered by another explorer and to 
be called Hudson's Bay. 

On the eighteenth of June, seeing the busi- 
ness side of their undertaking now well under 
way, Pontgrav6 and Champlain felt at liberty 
to start on their voyage of discovery up the 
St. Lawrence. Taking a number of the sailors, 
and some Indians who volunteered to be their 
guides, they set out in the small bark built 
expressly for this river trip. They moved 
along at a leisurely rate, Champlain noting on 
his map and in his journal each harbor, point, 
and island, and doing it so carefully that one 
can trace their exact route to-day. Four days 
after starting, they came to the beautiful cata- 
ract which Champlain named the Falls of 
Montmorency. The name was given in honor 
of his friend Montmorency in Paris, to whom 
also the journal of the trip itself was 

53 



Champlain 



afterward dedicated. A little later, they ap- 
proached the towering cliffs at whose base our 
explorer was, live years later, to found the first 
enduring French colony in the new continent. 
The river suddenly contracted at this point, 
and the place was called in the language of the 
local tribes Kehec, which meant a narrowing. 
Here Cartier had found an Indian settlement, 
but there were no traces of it remaining. 
Pontgrav(§ and Champlain, pausing in mid- 
stream to view the spot in passing, doubtless 
perceived even then the advantages of this im- 
posing site for a fort and settlement ; but their 
object at present was investigation, not coloni- 
zation, so they pushed on. 

A few days later found them at Three 
Rivers, which Champlain for the time liked 
even better than Quebec for a settlement. As 
far as this point, Pontgrav^ had come on pre- 
vious trading trips; beyond, all was as new 
to him as the whole was to his lieutenant. They 
sailed steadily forward, passed through Lake 
St. Peter, explored for a short distance the 
River of the Iroquois, now the Richelieu, and 
at length reached the present site of Montreal, 
which Cartier had reached sixty-eight years 
before. The populous Iroquois town of Hoche- 
laga found here by Cartier had now utterly 
disappeared ; and there was only the solitude 

54 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

of the wilderness and forest, guarded by tlie 
lofty hill which Cartier had climbed and had 
named Mount Koyal — Mont Keal. 

Up the river, confronting the travelers, the 
white fury of the great Lachine Rapids per- 
emptorily barred the further progress of the 
bark. The Indians at Tadoussac had told 
Pontgrav^ of these rapids, and he had had 
a light skiff made and brought along, to be 
used at this point. Champlain and he, always 
foremost in bold undertakings, took their 
places in this skiff with some sailors and two 
or three of their Indian guides, and set out to 
ascend the rushing stream. But they soon 
found it to be impossible. The little skiff, 
tossed about, thrown against rocks, and nearly 
overturned, fought its way valiantly upward 
for a short distance ; and then, as the waters 
grew fiercer, shooting angrily toward them 
from ledge to ledge and surging forward in 
menacing torrents, they were forced to give up 
the attempt. Landing, they went on foot along 
the shore for three miles, but found no 
smoother reach of the river; and at length, 
reluctantly retracing their way, they paddled 
back to the bark. 

Champlain was much disappointed not to 
be able to push his explorations farther in 
this direction. He interrogated his Indian 

55 



Champlain 

guides minutely as to what lay beyond. Their 
account is of real interest, as illustrating the 
vague yet in the main correct knowledge which 
the eastern tribes had of the country west of 
them. They described the course of the river 
above them, rapid by rapid, and almost league 
by league ; mentioned the lakes now known as 
St. Louis and St. Francis ; told of a great lake 
* ^ eighty leagues long ' ' — one said ' ^ a hundred 
and fifty '^ — meaning Lake Ontario; then of 
** a fall somewhat high," which is the first 
known mention of Niagara ; ^ next, of another 
great lake ^ ^ sixty leagues long, ' ^ referring to 
Lake Erie, at the end of which, they said, was 
a strait. They had never gone farther than 
this, but had heard of still another great lake 
beyond, so large that no man dared to venture 
upon it. Champlain was quite justified by the 
limited knowledge of his time in taking this 
to be the Pacific Ocean, or, as he called it, the 
South Sea, beyond which lay India. 

All this was extremely interesting to our 
explorer, who made careful notes of all that 
he was told. 

The river journey obviously could be pushed 

* Some other Indians, shortly after, referring to the same fall, 
as Champlain reports, described it as one "which may be a 
league wide, where a very great quantity of water pours over." 
It was Champlain, and not Cartier, who first made mention of 
Niagara, as is clearly shown in a pamphlet by P. A. Porter. 

56 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

no farther for the time being, and the party 
retraced their course to Tadoussac, having 
been absent about three weeks. 

A trip was next undertaken eastward along 
the south shore of the river as far as Gasp^, 
the return being made along the north shore. 
This gave them an exhaustive knowledge of 
the entire St. Lawrence as far as navigable; 
and Champlain might well feel that the chief 
object of the expedition had been attained. 

On the sixteenth of August, the Bonne Re- 
nomm^e, her hold filled with valuable furs, set 
sail homeward. Touching again at Gasp^, she 
was joined by the Frangoise and Captain Pr^- 
vert, who had been sent to explore the west 
coast of the gulf, and incidentally to locate a 
certain copper-mine of which the savages had 
told. He had a fluent tale to relate, which 
Champlain in after-years found out to be an 
unconscionable lie. He pretended to have made 
an arduous land journey, under Indian guid- 
ance, and to have come upon a veritable moun- 
tain of copper, ^'gleaming in the sunlight'^; 
and in addition, to have found a mine of silver. 
This same romancing captain brought back 
also a tale of a remarkable tribe of natives, the 
Armouchiquois, of whom he had heard. They 
had, he declared, a most extraordinary form ; 
their heads were small and their bodies short, 

57 



Champlain 



their arms and thighs like those of a skeleton, 
and their legs so long that when they were 
seated on the ground, their knees were more 
than half a foot above their heads. Not content 
with this, he gave a terrifying description of 
a monster called the Gougou, which was re- 
puted to inhabit a certain island near the Bale 
des Chaleurs, and whose frightful howls and 
hissings he averred that he had himself heard 
when passing by in his vessel. This Gougou 
had the form of a woman and was of a hideous 
aspect; she was so tall that a vessel's masts 
would hardly reach to her waist ; she had cap- 
tured many savages, whom she put into a 
pocket vast enough to hold a ship, and whom 
she afterward devoured ; and all natives lived 
in the greatest fear of her. Several Indians 
confirmed this narrative of the lively Prevert. 
Champlain set it all down as it was told to him, 
inclining to think the haunted island the abode 
of some devil, who tormented the natives as 
described. He has been more or less laughed 
at, in a kindly way, by subsequent writers, for 
giving such a tale the slightest credence. But 
it must be remembered that belief in devils and 
in the supernatural generally was common to 
every one in his time; the savages endorsed 
Prevert 's story, which seems to have accorded 
with some tradition of their own ; and Cham- 

58 



Champlain on the St. Lawrence 

plain did not then know his inventive compan- 
ion for the accomplished liar that he was. 

The two ships had a favoring passage home- 
ward. In a little over a month they sighted 
Havre, and crossing the river anchored safely 
at Honflenr. 



59 



CHAPTER V 

A WINTER IN ACADIA 

1004^1605 

PoNTGRAVfi and Champlain, making haste 
to land, and eager to tell of their doings, were 
met by grievous tidings. Commander de 
Chastes was dead.^ 

The two were stunned by the news. To 
Champlain it was a personal loss ; for his at- 
tachment to the noble-hearted Dieppe governor 
was deep and sincere. Moreover, it apparently 
meant an end to their entire enterprise. De 
Chastes was the head and front of the com- 
pany; and Champlain doubted much if a suc- 
cessor could be found powerful enough in rank 
and influence to overcome the opposition which 
had from the start been aroused against its 
trade monopoly. 

He made his disappointed way to Paris, 
where he was accorded a prompt and friendly 
interview with King Henry, who listened with 

1 His death had occurred on May 13, before the expedition 
had reached Tadoussac. 

60 



A Winter in Acadia 

the greatest interest to his narrative of the trip 
and who agreed with Champlain that the prog- 
ress so far made should not be allowed to go 
for nothing. 

Fortunately there was an individual at court, 
of rank and character as high as De Chastes 's, 
who at once became interested in the project. 
This was one Pierre de Guast, known as the 
Sieur de Monts. He was another of those offi- 
cer noblemen who had fought loyally on 
Henry ^s side during the war and who was 
now a welcome and esteemed personage at 
court. As it happened, he was in a sense a 
neighbor of Champlain. Guast was a bourg 
or commune of Saintonge, not far from Brou- 
age, on the right bank of the little river Seudre, 
along which Champlain must often have 
tramped on exploring trips as a boy. The De 
Monts, who were Huguenots, were feudal lords 
of this bourg and were prominent throughout 
the province. Pierre himself was in later 
years made governor of one of its important 
strongholds. He had doubtless known St. 
Luc, the war governor of Brouage ; and while 
he may not have known of Champlain at that 
time, or afterward as St. Luc's quartermaster, 
he assuredly now knew of him as the noted 
sea-captain and discoverer, and was glad to 
recognize in him a fellow Saintongeois. 

61 



Champlain 

De Monts told the king that he would take 
up De Chastes 's enterprise ; and further, that 
he would in person head another expedition to 
trade and this time to colonize in the new land. 
He accepted the presidency of the company, 
increasing its capital stock and investing large 
means of his own ; and was gazetted Lieuten- 
ant-General of New France, with a patent 
covering most of the upper half of North 
America and carrying with it a rigorous mon- 
opoly of all forms of trade. 

De Monts was not a tyro in knowledge of 
this region. He had already seen something 
of Canada. When Chauvin and Pontgrav^ had 
first gone out in 1600, De Monts, the war over 
and his sword idle, had joined them, simply 
for sightseeing and adventure, much as 
Champlain, his sword also idle, had joined his 
pilot-uncle 's ship at Blavet and had afterward 
wandered to the West Indies. While the hard 
and business-like Chauvin had stayed immov- 
ably at Tadoussac and traded, Pontgrave and 
De Monts, who liked each other, had seen what 
they could of the neighboring regions ; ascend- 
ing the St. Lawrence probably as far as Three 
Eivers, to which, as being an equally good 
spot for trade and a far milder one for settle- 
ment, they had vainly urged Chauvin to re- 
move. Thus De Monts was now in a position 

62 



A Winter in Acadia 

to follow ChamiDlain's interesting narrative 
with comprehension, and to know clearly many 
of the inducements and many of the dangers 
which awaited intending colonizers. 

One thing he stipulated. The new settlement 
must be farther south. What he had seen of 
the cold and gloomy St. Lawrence had not been 
prepossessing. He remembered with a shud- 
der the fate of the thirteen of Chauvin 's men 
who had perished during the first winter, and 
of the twenty who were said to have perished 
the second winter ; and he deemed it but sanity 
and common sense to seek out this time a milder 
latitude. 

Naturally, De Monts turned to Pontgravd 
to be second in command of the new expedi- 
tion, and naturally also he counted on Cham- 
plain to be one of the leaders. The latter, with 
this opportunity for exploration in another 
new field, was of course more than ready to 
join the party, and, obtaining the king's con- 
sent, promptly accepted. 

Another person of prominence was added to 
the group. This was the Baron Jean de Poi- 
trincourt, a middle-aged nobleman of means 
and enterprise, whom Henry IV called ' ' one 
of the most honorable and valiant men in the 
kingdom.'' He had formed an ambition like 
De Chastes 's to take his family to a new land 



Champlain 

and there found an ancestral home. De Monts 
was required by his charter to take out a cer- 
tain number of Catholic priests to convert the 
Indians; but as a good Huguenot he solaced 
himself by engaging also a Protestant clergy- 
man or two for those of his party who were 
of the reformed religion. 

The work of preparation was briskly begun 
the same fall, three ships ^ being fitted out at 
Havre.^ There Pontgrav(^ spent much of the 
winter, hurrying matters forward for an early 
start in the spring. De Monts and Poitrin- 
court supervised affairs in Paris. Meanwhile 
Champlain had turned author. He revised and 
rewrote the narrative of his recent trip, add- 
ing a graphic and animated description of 
manners and customs among the Indians whom 
he had met, and published the work in book 
form, under the title '^ Des Sauvages." One 
likes to picture it as one of ^* the successes 
of 1604''; and it may very well have been so. 
The public was interested in a New France in 
the New World. As yet, there was every op- 
portunity for such an accomplishment. No 



J Champlain, 1632 ed. The 1613 ed. speaks only of two. 
Charlevoix carelessly says four^ doubtless having in mind one 
afterward captured for illicit trading. 

'Champlain, 1613 ed. The 1632 ed,, probably by inadvert- 
ence, speaks of sailing from Dieppe. 

64 



A Winter in Acadia 

power had a foothold on that continent, north 
of the peninsula of Florida. Was France to 
be the nation that should seize and hold itf 
Whatever bore upon such a momentous and 
interesting question was sure to be widely read 
and discussed. 

On March 7, 1604, De Monts and Cham- 
plain set out from Havre in a stout ship of 
150 tons; and three days later Pontgrav^ 
sailed in one thirty tons smaller. A third 
followed soon after. Each of the three 
had a different mission. The first was to find 
a place for settlement ; the second was to cap- 
ture vessels trading in defiance of the com- 
pany's monopoly; the third was to carry on 
a fur traffic at Tadoussac. 

The ships of De Monts and Pontgrave were 
to rendezvous at Canso, the strait and harbor 
at the northern end of Nova Scotia. But De 
Monts while at sea changed his course farther 
to the south. They had a long passage of two 
months, and were dangerously near to ship- 
wreck on Sable Island, owing to a mistake in 
reckoning made by Captain Timothee. They 
would have had no liking for life on that ill- 
fated spot, from which De la Roche's ma- 
rooned convicts, after roaming the beach 
month by month and year by year, frantic for 
escape, frenzied by want and solitude, and al- 
6 65 



Champlain 

most deliumanized, had been brought back to 
France only the previous year. 

The land finally sighted was the Cap de la 
Ileve, or Cape Lahave, nearly two-thirds of 
the way down the Nova Scotia coast. Four 
days later, the travelers entered a harbor ; and 
here the first sight to meet their eyes was a 
ship from Havre busily engaged in the for- 
bidden fur trade. The ship was promptly con- 
fiscated, and its sailors were made prisoners; 
the captain, one Pierre Fritot, called Rossi- 
gnol, doubtless being little consoled by the 
ironical honor of having the port^ named 
after him. A prize crew was put on board, and 
the two ships proceeded together. Coming to 
another harbor. Port Mouton, a little farther 
south, De Monts decided to remain until he 
could get news of Pontgrave, and also until a 
prospecting trip could be made to find a suita- 
ble place for settling. 

Champlain was naturally chosen to head 
this expedition, and he set out with a few 
others in a serviceable eight-ton bark to ex- 
plore southward. He tacked along down the 
Nova Scotia coast, entering and charting every 
cove and port, noting each island and cape, and 
closely observing the appearance of the main- 
land. Rounding Cape Sable, he went up the 

^ Port llossignol, now Liverpool Harbor, 

66 



A Winter in Acadia 

west coast as far as St. Mary 's Bay. He was 
not satisfied with the result of his search ; but 
he did not deem it prudent to be away longer, 
and returned to De Monts after a three weeks' 
absence. 

Meanwhile the latter had been growing 
very anxious about Pontgrav^, who had most 
of the supplies in his ship. The fault, 
if any, was not on Pontgrave's side; for 
that genial worthy had brought his vessel 
across to Canso with his usual skill and 
despatch, and finding no one there, had been 
waiting in a bay in the vicinity, gradually 
becoming as anxious as was De Monts. The 
latter had finally sent off a small boat with a 
French sailor and some friendly Indians to 
hunt for Pontgrave. They found him, and he, 
much relieved, at once sent on the needed 
supplies ere proceeding into the gulf on his 
mission of suppressing contraband trade. 

De Monts 's ship, followed by his prize — 
the two vessels together containing ^^all New 
France, ' ' as a narrator facetiously remarks — 
now went on to St. Mary 's Bay, whence it was 
planned to make another exploring trip in the 
bark. De Monts himself decided to go with 
Champlain. Their very first discovery was 
the magnificent harbor of Port Royal, now 
Annapolis Basin. Baron Poitrincourt at once 

67 



Champlain 

decided that this was the place for his new 
ancestral home, and obtained a grant of it 
from De Monts on the spot. After making the 
entire circuit of the Bay of Fundy, De Monts 
finally made choice of the Island of St. Croix 
on the western side in Passamaqnoddy Bay 
as a satisfactory site for his fort and colony ; 
the ships were sent for, and all hands at once 
fell to work in unloading, building, and forti- 
fying. It was midsummer. The countryside 
glowed in radiance under the warm July sun. 
To the newcomers it all seemed very beautiful, 
and they fell to their task of home-making with 
cheery ardor. Timber was cut and brought 
from the mainland. Rough houses were run 
up as rapidly as possible, surrounded by a 
palisade and protected by cannon. There was 
a separate building for De Monts, surmounted 
by the banner of France ; one for Champlain 
and certain of his companions; another for 
the workmen and artisans; a storehouse, a 
kitchen, and a long, roofed gallery for work 
or diversion in bad weather. The ships ^ sup- 
plies were stored away ; a boat was sent up to 
Pontgrav6 for more; and after a few weeks 
of vigorous work, the little camp began to take 
promising shape. 

While the ships had been lying in St. Mary's 
Bay, a distressing incident had occurred. A 

68 



izi^J^"^}:^ 




SETTLEMENT AT ST. CROIX. 



A. House of Sieur de Monts. 

B. Gallery for work or diversion 

iu bad weather. 

C. Storehouse. 

D. House of the guard. 

E. Forge. 

F. House for the carpenters. 

G. Well. 
H. Bakery. 
I. Kitchen. 

L, M, X. Gardens. 
N. Court. 



O. 
P. 



Q. 



T. 



V. 
Y. 



(Drawn by Champlain.) 

Palisade. 

House occupied by Sieurs 
d'Orville, Champlain, and 
Ch and ore. 

R. Houses occupied by work- 
men. 

House occupied by Sieurs de 
Beaumont. La Motte Bou- 
rioli, and Fougeray. 

House of the cure. 

River. 



A Winter in Acadia 

young Catholic priest, by the name of Aubry, 
lost himself in the woods. With several com- 
panions he had gone for a walk, and having 
accidentally left his sword by the side of a 
spring, had turned back for it, and missed his 
way. For days the entire company searched 
for him vainly. Fires were lighted, guns were 
fired; well-disposed Indians lent their keen 
aid; but the young man could not be found. 
The colonists were forced to sail over to St. 
Croix without him. 

Over a fortnight later, one of the small 
boats had recrossed from St. Croix, to fish, 
and to investigate certain mines which had 
been seen along St. Mary's Bay. One of the 
men saw in the distance a white cloth being 
feebly moved up and down on the end of a 
stick. Rowing warily toward the signal, the 
men found Aubry. He was in the last stages 
of exhaustion, having been seventeen days in 
the woods with little to eat save roots and 
berries. Great was the joy at St. Croix over 
his rescue; the more so as a Huguenot min- 
ister with whom he had had several disputes 
had been darkly accused by some of having 
made away with him. 

The vessels now returned to France for the 
winter. The only tie with the motherland 
was severed. As the colonists watched the 

69 



Champlain 



sails melt away into the fog at the moiitli of 
the little St. Croix River, early in Septem- 
ber, they must have suddenly realized as never 
before the nature of their adventure and its 
ominous possibilities of abandonment or dis- 
aster. ^ ^ From the Spanish settlements north- 
ward to the Pole, ' ' as Parkman finely writes, 
^' there was no domestic hearth, no lodgment 
of civilized men, save one weak band of 
Frenchmen, clinging as it were for life to the 
fringe of the vast and savage continent. ' ' 

Champlain, always indefatigable, set out in 
September on a trip southward, sighting and 
naming Mount Desert, entering the Penobscot, 
where he vainly searched for the fabled city 
of Norumbega, and sailing nearly to the Ken- 
nebec. He was gone just a month, returning 
on October 2d. Four days after came a fall 
of snow. The winter had begun. 

On the cold and misery of that bitter season 
it is painful to dwell. The island proved most 
ill chosen. No one had at all appreciated the 
intense cold of the long Acadian winter nor 
the biting fury of its storms of sleet and snow. 
The rude dwellings were utterly inadequate 
to keep out the fierce cold. Fuel was scarce, 
fresh water scarcer. The liquors froze ; cider 
was dispensed by the pound. For five long 
months the pitiless snow lay white about them, 

70 



A Winter in Acadia 

three feet deep on the level or heaped by the 
rude winds into massy drifts. The men, 
numbed and pinched, kept on at their various 
tasks with a kind of desperate endurance. To 
cap all, scurvy finally broke out; and no less 
than thirty-five out of the seventy-nine men 
in the settlement were laid by their suffering 
comrades in the frozen ground. Twenty 
others were at the point of death. It seemed 
as if the spring would never come ; and when 
at last, but not till the fifteenth of the follow- 
ing June, a pinnace was rowed in from the off- 
ing, one night, and the hearty hail of Pont- 
grave — back from France — was heard, the 
relief was indescribable and the rejoicing pro- 
longed. 



71 



CHAPTER VI 

A GLIMPSE OF NEW ENGLAND 

1605-1607 

De Monts had had enough of St. Croix ; and 
he at once set out with Champlain and others 
on another trip, determined to seek still 
farther south for a habitation. They were 
gone six weeks. AVithin this time they passed 
along the entire New England coast as far as 
Cape Cod. They entered the Kennebec, noted 
Casco and Saco Bays, rounded Cape Ann, 
and anchored in Boston Harbor, where they 
made a short stay. They met various tribes 
of Indians along the wa}^; making ready ac- 
quaintance, giving presents, and obtaining in- 
formation in return. Their visits uniformly 
produced a sensation among these aborigines. 
When they left Boston Bay, ' ' the islands and 
mainland were swarming with the native 
population. The Indians were, naturally 
enough, intensely interested in this visit of 
the little French bark. It may have been 

72 



A Glimpse of New England 

the first that had ever made its appearance in 
the bay. Its size was many times greater than 
any water-craft of their own. Spreading its 
white wings and gliding silently away with- 
out oarsmen, it filled them with surprise and 
admiration. The whole population was astir. 
The cornfields and fishing stations were de- 
serted. Every canoe was manned, and a 
flotilla of their tiny craft came to attend, hon- 
or, and speed the parting guests, experiencing 
doubtless, a sense of relief that they were 
going, and filled with a painful curiosity to 
know the meaning of this mysterious visit. ' ' ^ 

am 

Passing on, the voyagers soon after entered 
the harbor of Plymouth — nine years before 
the visit of Captain John Smith, and fifteen 
years before the Pilgrims made their memo- 
rable landing on the historic Eock. Then, 
rounding Cape Cod, they ended their trip at 
Nauset Harbor on the east side of the cape^ 
' The interviews with the natives, owing to 
the tact and bonhomie of the French, had been 
friendly without exception, up to this point^^ 
In Nauset a taste of hostility was given them. 
An Indian snatched a pail from the hand of 
one of the sailors, his pursuer was killed by 
arrows, and the savages escaped to the woods. 

» Voyages of Champlain, Memoir by Rer. E. F. Slafter. 

73 



Champlain 



The French gave chase, but could not overtake 
them, and had to be content with giving the 
dead sailor honorable burial on the lonely and 
salt-sprayed shore — the second, if not the 
first, white man to be interred in New England 
soil.^ 

De Monts must have been singularly hard 
to please in the matter of a new site for his 
colony, for he found none to his liking in this 
entire trip. Even the superb advantages of 
Boston Bay do not seem to have appealed to 
him. One wonders curiously how far New 
England history might have run a different 
course if he had chosen a spot in this region. 
The explorers wished to sail still farther ; but 
their provisions were running low, and they 
were compelled to return, reaching St. Croix 
early in August. 

De Monts decided to cross the bay, and settle, 
temporarily at least, in Port Royal, granted 
by him, the year before, to Baron Poitrincourt, 
who had sailed for home the same autumn, 
purposing to return with his family. Poitrin- 
court would be more than glad of this acces- 
sion of strength to his own proposed colony. 
Pontgrave and Champlain, the inseparables, 



^ It is said that Tliorvald, son of Eric Randa, landing at Plym- 
outh Harbor in the spring of 1004, was killed in an encounter 
with the savages, and was buried on what is now Garnet Point. 

74 



A Glimpse of New England 

went over and chose a suitable location — the 
spot where the village of Lower Granville 
now stands. With the aid of Pontgrave's 
ship and of another supply ship which had 
just arrived from St. Malo, all the stores and 
belongings, and even parts of the buildings, 
were transported from St. Croix. That in- 
hospitable island was left to its desolation; 
and, excepting for a later visit one day from 
some of the colonists themselves, even its 
crumbling foundation-stones remained forgot- 
ten and unseen by human eyes for nearly two 
hundred years. 

Port Royal seemed much more promising. 
Again houses were cheerily built; again sup- 
plies were unloaded, and again the men pre- 
pared, this time with better knowledge, for the 
ordeal of the winter. De Monts, who had 
heard that his patent was in danger, decided 
to go back to France for the season ; but Pont- 
grav^, who was a host in himself, readily 
volunteered to stay and take charge in his 
place. Champlain had no hesitation about 
staying also. His sturdy frame had not suf- 
fered from the hardships of the previous win- 
ter, nor from the strain and work of his 
numerous expeditions. In fact, this whole 
life of novelty and adventure was precisely 
what he loved. 

75 



Champlain 

The winter was milder than the preceding 
one. Warned by past experience, the colonists 
had built tighter houses, and had better looked 
after the supply of fuel and fresh water. The 
scurvy broke out again, and twelve of the 
forty-five died ; but this was a much smaller 
proportion than in the winter before, and it 
began to seem that Port Royal would serve 
sufficiently well as the first metropolis of New 
France. 

Pontgrav^ and Champlain, however, were 
still desirous of exploring farther to the south 
than the point reached the previous summer ; 
and in the spring of 1606 they, with others, 
started off in a bark of seventeen or eight- 
een tons. The attempt came to speedy dis- 
aster; the bark was cast ashore and broken 
to pieces in a gale, at the very mouth of Port 
Royal Harbor, and the men barely saved their 
lives and their belongings. 

There was now nothing to do but wait for 
ships from France. Champlain chafed. April 
passed, then May and June, with no word 
from outside. They had been building an- 
other bark; and at last, in July, it was de- 
termined that all hands should quit the 
settlement, in this bark and a smaller one 
which they had, sail to seek some of the 
fishing fleet off the Banks, and thus obtain 

76 



A Glimpse of New England 

passage home. This had been agreed upon 
with De Monts the year before, as a course of 
action in case a ship from him should fail to 
appear. It would have been impossible to 
remain another year without new provisions 
and supplies. ^ 

Two men bravely volunteered to remain 
and guard the place for the winter; and an 
old Indian chief, Membertou, who had proved 
a faithful friend to the colonists, promised 
to keep them company. 

The boats set out, met bad weather, and 
were nearly wrecked ; but off Cape Sable they 
happily fell in with a boat from a vessel which, 
with Baron Poitrincourt and his son on board, 
was hastening to Port Royal. The departing 
colonists of course turned back at once; and 
there was a joyous fraternizing with the new- 
comers accompanying the baron, who, bring- 
ing from De Monts a commission as Deputy 
Governor, had come out to make his home. 
Wine ran freely and tongues wagged loqua- 
ciously. 

There was another person of note among\ 
the passengers in the good ship Jonas, which 
had brought over Baron Poitrincourt. This 
was a Paris lawyer. Marc Lescarbot, who had 
come out for the novelty of the thing. Les- 
carbot was a decided accession to the group. 

77 



Champlain 

He was a merry soul, versatile, witty, with 
inexhaustible good spirits, with excellent 
sense, and a turn for science. He examined 
the little settlement with the greatest interest, 
going from building to building, peering into 
everything, and making facetious yet discern- 
ing comments. Lescarbot afterward wrote a 
History of New France, which, as regards 
Acadia at least, has been an invaluable source 
of information for all subsequent historians. 

Pontgrav^ now sailed for Canso, to search 
anew for contraband traders, and to carry on 
a fur traffic for the company ; after which, he 
was to return to France. His son Robert re- 
mained at Port Royal. 

It was decided to renew now the past year ^s 
frustrated attempt to explore far to the south. 
Baron Poitrincourt headed the expedition in 
person, and Champlain was of course his right- 
hand man. Poitrincourt 's son Jean and 
Pontgrav^'s son Robert were also of the 
party. The trip iDroduced little result. It was 
already fall before they could start. They 
succeeded in going but eighteen miles beyond 
the limit of the previous trip, rounding Cape 
Cod, and just sighting Martha's Vineyard. 
In Chatham Harbor they again had a sharp 
skirmish with some of the Cape Indians, who 
were much less friendly than those of the 

ib 



A Glimpse of New England 

north, and several of tlie sailors were killed 
or wounded. Champlain gives a spirited 
drawing of the skirmish. The French re- 
sorted to stratagem — it might be called 
treachery — and killed several of the Indians 
in reprisal. Perhaps they felt it absolutely 
essential to impress these wild tribes with the 
relentless justice of the white man. 

The care of their wounded, as well as the 
approach of the autumn frosts, compelled them 
now to turn back. It was tantalizing, having 
made the long journey a second time, to have 
come only a little farther southward than be- 
fore; and Champlain must have felt this, as 
they regretfully turned the prow to the north. 
He was never again on the New England 
coast. After more than one narrow escape 
from storm and from accident, the party re- 
entered Port Royal, in safety indeed, but in 
no little disappointment. The finding of the 
ideal colony site seemed as far off as ever. 

The versatile Lescarbot had devised an alle- 
gorical pageant, with which he and the others 
greeted them as they sailed up to the little 
landing. Neptune, lightly clad in * ^ a blue veil 
and buskins, ' ' with long beard and hair, and 
with trident in hand, approached on his water- 
chariot, drawn by six Tritons. The sea-god 
made a poetic address of welcome, followed 

79 



Champlain 

by one from each of the Tritons. Then his 
chariot gave place to a canoe containing 
savages laden with presents for the returning 
baron — a quarter of moose, some beaver-skins, 
native-made scarfs and bracelets. Poitrin- 
court, his sword drawn in ceremony, made a 
polite speech of thanks to Neptune for his wel- 
come, and one to the savages for their gifts; 
after which Lescarbot's improvised troupe 
sang an original four-part glee, the trumpets 
sounded, and cannon roared out boister- 
ous greetings. The returned travelers then 
disembarked and moved in formal procession 
into the fort, over whose main gate they saw 
the arms of France crowned with laurel, with 
those of De Monts and Poitrincourt, appro- 
priately inscribed, beneath.^ 

The winter which ensued was passed more 
comfortably than either of the two preceding 
ones had been. It was even, in a sense, enjoy- 
able. Experience had taught the colonists how 
to provide better against the cold ; and the win- 
ter, most fortunately for all, was again one of 



^ Lescarbot, who printed the dialogue and verses of this am- 
bitious effort in full in his Muses de la Nouvelle France, says 
apologetically : " I beg the reader to excuse me if these rhymes 
are not polished as highly as fastidious men might desire. They 
were written in haste. Nevertheless I have thought fit to insert 
them here, as well because they complement my history as to 
show that we lived joyously," 

80 



A Glimpse of New England 

comparative mildness — far different from the 
savagely bitter one at St. Croix. Champlain 
and Lescarbot were the life of the party. The 
latter composed poetry, wrote plays for ama- 
teur theatricals, and read the service on Sun- 
day — Catholic priests and Huguenot clergy- 
men all having died or returned to France. 
Champlain, on his part, started the community 
in gardening and path-making, and instituted 
a novel ^ ' Order of Good Times. ' ' This latter 
was designed as a stimulus for the commis- 
sary department, and proved '^more profit- 
able, ' ^ as he says, * ' than all the medicine that 
could have been used. ' ' The order comprised 
the fifteen principal men of the colony. Its 
distinguishing badge was a chain, ^^ which, 
with certain ceremonies, we put around the 
neck of each one of our number in turn, ap- 
pointing him for the day to go hunting. The 
next day it was put upon another, and so on 
successively. Each one vied with the other 
in trying to bring back the best game. ' ' * ^ At 
the grand dinner each day, ' ' writes the lively 
Lescarbot, ^Hhe Master of the Feast marched 
in, his napkin over his shoulder, the baton of 
office in his hand, and around his neck the 
Collar of the Order; and behind him, other 
members, each bearing his plate. In the eve- 
ning, having rendered thanks to God, he re- 
7 81 



Champlain 

signed the collar to his successor, pledging 
him in a cup of wine. ' ' 

Baron Poitrincourt proved himself an able 
and resourceful governor. He was of a prac- 
tical turn of mind, and caused the erection of 
a water-mill, a brick-kiln, and a furnace for 
melting gums and resin to serve as pitch in 
boat-building. There were some deaths from 
the dreaded scurvy, but far fewer than in the 
two preceding winters. 

In the late spring— it was May 24, 1607— a\ 
bark entered the harbor. It came from the 
ship Jonas, which had just crossed again from 
France and was fishing off Canso. A young 
St. Malo sailor named Chevalier was in 
charge. He brought disconcerting news. 
The company's trade on the St. Lawrence 
had recently been broken into by the Dutch, 
and thus the year's profits had been cut off. 
Moreover, enemies at court had been at work, 
and De Monts, after personally sinking a hun- 
dred thousand livres in the venture, had been 
deprived of his concession. He had sent over 
mournful word to Baron Poitrincourt to aban- 
don the settlement and to sail back to France} 
with all his companions. 

This was a crushing blow. All their three 
years of brave work and of hardship were to 
go for nothing. Even Lescarbot's merry face 

82 



A Glimpse of New England 

fell; Champlain could scarcely credit the 
news; and Baron Poitrincourt, whose heart 
was set on that new ancestral home in the 
wilderness, called for volunteers to remain. 
Eight responded ; but they asked prohibitory 
wages, and so the plan fell through. The 
baron, however, stoutly vowed that he would 
come back, even if he and his family came 
alone.^ 

For the time being, there was nothing for 
it but to give up the undertaking, as De Monts 
had directed. With heavy hearts the colonists 
packed together their belongings. 

Before leaving, Baron Poitrincourt and 
Champlain undertook a journey in a shallop 
to Minas Basin at the head of the Bay of 
Fundy, in renewed search of Pr^vert's fabled 
copper-mine or of other deposits of minerals. 
They found none of value ; but in a little cove 
in Minas Basin they came upon a most inter- 
esting relic, eloquent though silent. It was 
a wooden cross, very old, covered with moss, 
and almost wholly rotted away; ^'an evident 
sign,'' Champlain says, ^'that Christians had 
once before been in these parts.'' One won- 
ders what story hovered around this vener- 
able s^nnbol, erected there in lonely Minas 

' He returned, three years later ; but his second attempt had 
little better permanent success than the first. 

83 



\ 



Champlain 



Basin unknown decades before. Was it a 
casual act of piety on the part of men of the 
fishing fleet in the Acadian waters 1 Or was it 
a memorial of some long past voyage of dis- 
covery, or even of settlement, no other record 
of which has come down to us 1 The facts will 
of course never be known; but imagination 
pauses a moment, fascinated over the finding, 
in those first years of the seventeenth century, 
of a monument belonging to a time far earlier 
still. 

Ketuming to Port Royal, Poitrincourt 
found everything ready for departure. His 
Indian neighbors were inconsolable, and de- 
clared that they would guard and care for the 
fort and buildings with the utmost fidelity un- 
til their white friends should return. The 
Frenchmen dispiritedly bade adieu to the 
place, and embarking in small boats, sailed 
out from the magnificent harbor in the bright 
August sunshine, and worked their way up 
around the curving coast to join the Jonas at 
Canso. Champlain seized the opportunity to 
survey the Nova Scotia shores north of Cape 
Lahave — a part which he had not before had 
the opportunity of mapping. He now had a 
complete chart of the entire Atlantic sea- 
board, from Cape Breton to Cape Cod, marked 
with soundings and with degrees of latitude — 

84 



A Glimpse of New England 

the first to be scientifically prepared by any 
explorer. In connection with his St. Law- 
rence charts, it constituted an invaluable ad- 
dition to the cartography of the day. 

The Jonas, her fishing done, sailed on Sep^ 
tember 3, 1607, and after a passage of a month, 
safely entered the harbor of St. Malo. Cham- 
plain had been absent from France on thisj 
expedition three years and a half. 

He remarks, as one of the great defects of 
the undertaking, its mixture of creeds, which 
seemed to his religiously inclined mind a very 
important matter, "as two contrary religions 
never produce much fruit for the glory of 
God among the heathen they wish to convert. 
I have seen," says he, "the minister and our 
cure fight with their fists about differences in 
religion ; and," he adds, slyly, "I do not know 
which was the bravest or hit the hardest blows, 
but I do very well know that the minister 
complained sometimes to Monsieur De Monts 
of having been soundly beaten; and in this 
way they cleared up the points of controversy. 
I leave you to think if it was very pleasant to 
behold." 

Another chronicler — Sagard — writing an ac- 
count of the expedition, tells of the death of 
a minister and a priest, and adds, much scan- 
dalized, that the crew buried both in one grave, 

85 



Champlain 



*^ pour voir si morts ils demeureroient en paix, 
puisque vivants ils ne s ^etoient pu accorder ' ' 
— to see whether, having quarreled so much 
in life, they would lie peaceably together in 
death. 



86 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FOUNDING OF QUEBEC 

1608 

For France, as for every other nation save 
Spain, the New World had thus far been asso- 
ciated only with disappointment, disaster, and 
death. French explorers and French col- 
onizers alike — Cartier, Roberval, Ribaut, 
Laudonniere, La Roche, Chauvin, De Chastes, 
and now De Monts — had failed to stamp any 
permanent mark of possession upon its vast 
borders. 

It was important to stamp such a mark 
soon, if at all. Already this very year of the 
return to France of De Monts ^s downcast 
colony from Acadia was witnessing a settle- 
ment by the English on the James River in 
Virginia — a settlement which they were des- 
tined to hold and expand. The Dutch, shrewd 
navigators and traders, were becoming in- 
terested in the Indian trade, and already had 
their eyes on those fertile central latitudes 

87 



Champlain 



which they were soon to explore, claim, and 

occupy. 

Champlain 's views were broad. The hope 
he had at heart was not merely to plant a suc- 
cessful trading post and enrich a company. 
This might be a means to certain ends. The 
ends were threefold: to add new domains to 
France ; to spread the true religion among the 
native races; and to penetrate the mysteries 
of the great and baffling continent, and open 
up a route through the Far West to the Far 
East. 

We find Champlain in Paris in the fall of 
1607, after his return; a little older, a trifle 
graver, after his varied experiences, but no 
less ardent in high endeavor, no whit daunted 
in his dreams of expansion. On the northern 
half of North America, France, he felt, was 
to set its seal — must set its seal. The idea had 
become a passion with him. Here was clearly 
a man to make a new empire, if such was to be 
made by one of Henry's subjects. 

Henry IV himself, even though he had un- 
der pressure revoked De Monts's trading 
patent, was by no means blind to the advan- 
tages of colonization in America. Baron 
Poitrincourt, bringing home specimens of the 
grain which the soil of Port Royal had been 
made to yield — wheat, maize, rye, oats, bar- 

88 



The Founding of Quebec 

ley — was given a hearty greeting by the king, 
who was not a little impressed by the agricul- 
tural showing of the new land. Poitrincourt 
presented him with five brant-geese, hatched 
out and bred in the settlement, which inter- 
ested him considerably, and which he placed in 
the royal park at Fontainebleau. The baron 
was still a firm believer in Acaadia, and ear- 
nestly pressed his plan to make a home there. 
Meanwhile Champlain appeared on the scene, 
with maps and surveys and graphic pictures 
of Acadian scenes and natives. The king and 
his council studied the maps and pictures at- 
tentively, enlarging considerably their pre- 
viously vague conceptions. Henry began to 
feel that he had perhaps been rather too hasty 
in wholly revoking the working privileges of 
his loyal patentee, De Monts. 

Champlain showed his drawings to De 
Monts, narrating everything that had occurred 
since the latter 's departure from Port Royal 
two years before. Enthusiastic as ever over 
the possibility of founding a successful colony, 
he fired his friend with new energy. De Monts 
determined to try the adventure again. 

One point, however, Champlain prevailed 
on him to abandon. This was the settlement 
of Nova Scotia or a place on the mainland 
coasts. * * I urged him, this time, ' ^ he says, ^ * to 

89 



Champlain 



plant himself on the great River of St. Law- 
rence, where commerce and traffic can be 
carried on much better than in Acadia — a 
region difficult to protect on account of its in- 
finite number of ports, which could only be 
guarded by large forces. Furthermore there 
are few natives ; and in addition it would prove 
impossible from that side to penetrate inland 
and reach the non-roving tribes in the interior 
of the country, as can be done from the St. 
Lawrence. ' ' 

De Monts petitioned the king for a renewal 
of his trading monopoly. This he felt to be 
essential to his plan of colonization. Henry 
approved both the man and the plan. He 
gladly reconfirmed to him his Lieutenant- 
Generalship of Canada. But there were cer- 
tain questions of state affecting the trade mat- 
ter, and the king declared it impracticable to 
grant again a permanent concession. The ut- 
most that he would do was to grant a conces- 
sion for one year. With the hope of having it 
renewed when the year was over, De Monts 
accepted this offer, and Champlain felt a re- 
kindling of his hope of planting the standard 
of his king enduringly in the soil of New 
France — an ambition destined now at last to be 
fulfilled. 

Regarding the two objects of this new Cana- 

90 



The Founding of Quebec 

dian project — trade and colonization — there 
was no question as to who should have charge 
of the trade. Honest old Pontgrave, with his 
long experience in that line, was obviously the 
man for the place; and he accepted the post 
with cheerful readiness. 

As to colonization, there had come to be like- 
wise no question. De Monts was not going 
out himself; and the mantle of Governor fell 
logically and fittingly on the shoulders of 
Samuel de Champlain. 

This was a reversal of the conditions under 
which Pontgrav^ and Champlain had sailed 
Canadaward on their first voyage together in 
1603. Then Pontgrave was leader, and Cham- 
plain was subordinate. Now Champlain was 
leader, and Pontgrav^ was subordinate. 

This was not a reflection on the worthy 
Pontgrave. His forte was business. As 
brave, as honest, as adventurous in his way 
as his younger colleague, he did not possess 
the latter ^s broad mental gage, his adminis- 
trative capacity, his progressively unfolding 
powers. He was unexcelled in a small place ; 
Champlain had come to fit a larger one. The 
old St. Malouin was too warm-hearted and 
loyal a friend to feel envy, and his close rela- 
tions with Champlain remained unimpaired. 

Once more the shipwrights of Honfleur were 

91 



Champlain 

set to work altering and preparing two selected 
vessels for the voyage to Canada. Once more 
Pontgrav^, who had made his home in Plon- 
fleur, in the parish of St. Etienne, stood about 
in the snow or dirty slush of the ancient river 
quays, directing the men's work or superin- 
tending the receipt and shipment of supplies. 
It was the winter of 1607. Champlain 
remained in Paris, api^reciative, no doubt, of 
its luxuries as an agreeable contrast to the 
hardships of his three winters in the wilder- 
ness; yet ready for the incoming year, and 
whatever of further hardship it might bring. 
On April 5, 1608, Pontgrave set sail, wit^ 
a good cargo of cloths, hatchets, knives, and! 
various trinkets to be used for barter with 
the Indians at Tadoussac. Eight days later 
Champlain followed, his own vessel freighted 
with furniture, clothing, provisions, axes, 
saws, and shovels, and the many necessaries 
for fitting up a rough winter habitation on 
the great river. With him were carpenters, 
masons, a locksmith, and other mechanics of 
various kinds. His sail passed out of the 
broad mouth of the Seine and disappeared in 
the west; and the loiterers along the Hon- 
fleur jetties shook their heads wonderingly 
over this new foolhardiness on the part of 
visionary explorers. 

92 



The Founding of Quebec 

Champlain's ship was not speedy, and it 
was not until May 26 that land was sighted 
on the Newfoundland coast. On June 3, 
after a passage of over a month and a half, 
the lonely but familiar river-bank at Tadous- 
sac was seen ahead, flanked by the somber 
waters of the Saguenay. 

Champlain had no intention of settling at 
Tadoussac. He had never liked the place. He 
deemed it a good center for trade in peltries, 
but a bad site for a winter abode. It was here 
that Chauvin's men had miserably died of 
want and scurvy. It was here that the Can- 
ada soil was stoniest and the Canada winter 
fiercest. ^^If there is an ounce of cold forty 
leagues up the river, ^' Champlain remarks, 
sententiously, 'Hhere is a pound at Tadous- 
sac. '' So he now merely put in temporarily, 
to see Pontgrave and to perfect their joint 
plans before proceeding. 

Here, however, the new Governor found a 
very pretty quarrel on his official hands. 
Pontgrave, arriving a few days before, had 
discovered a Basque fur-trading vessel defy- 
ing the new monopoly. The choleric St. Malo 
captain was a man of action. He remon- 
strated vigorously, and then opened fire. But 
the Basques proved unexpectedly pugnacious, 
and gave back shot for shot. Pontgrave him- 

93 



Champlain 

self was wounded at the first discharge, and 
three of his men were struck down, one sub- 
sequently dying. The Basques, who were the 
stronger party, finally boarded Pontgrav^'s 
ship and took forcible possession of all his 
arms and ammunition, declaring that they 
would restore them when ready to sail for 
France. 

Champlain 's arrival changed the aspect of 
affairs, and the Basques now became rather 
alarmed at what they had done. Pontgrave 
had been carried ashore, and Champlain at 
once rowed off to see him. He found his old 
chief somewhat painfully but not dangerously 
wounded. The two had a long consultation, 
an envoy from the Basque ship awaiting the 
result a little anxiously. The Basque captain, 
Darache, was willing to give up the fur trade, 
if he might carry on the whale-fishery un- 
molested. Otherwise, he was doggedly pre- 
pared to fight again. 

It was Champlain 's first ^^case^' as Gov- 
ernor of Canada. He was impulsively dis- 
posed to fight. But he foresaw complications 
which might endanger their entire enterprise, 
and which would certainly retard it. He 
finally took the statesmanlike view that it was 
not well ''out of a just cause to make a bad 
one, ' ' and concluded to refer the whole matter 

94 



The Founding of Quebec 

to arbitration. The Basques were to cease 
trading, and the entire question of trespass 
was to be submitted to the home authorities. 
An agreement was drawn up and signed by 
both parties, and thus the possibility of seri- 
ous trouble was successfully averted. 

Champlain now directed his carpenters to 
build a small twelve-ton bark for the ascent of 
the river. This work occupied three weeks. 
Meanwhile he solicitously watched over 
his old friend while the latter 's wound was 
healing; renewing that companionable inter- 
change of jokes and stories which the two had 
enjoyed during their first voyage to this place 
five years before, and also during that second 
Acadian winter when Pontgrav^ was in charge 
at Port Royal. Pontgrav^ was soon afoot 
again. There were friendly Indians about, in 
plenty, come to Tadoussac from the far north 
and west with their rich canoe-loads of furs ; 
and traffic was soon briskly under way. 

Champlain further occupied his time by 
sailing a hundred and fifty miles up the Sague- 
nay, mapping its course with some care. By 
the end of June the bark was built, and on 
the last day of the month the pioneers set 
out up the St. Lawrence to plant their col 
ony. 

After voyaging along in leisurely fashion 

95 






Champlain 



for four days, past scenes with wliich Cham- 
plain's previous trip had made him already 
familiar, they passed the long Island of Or- 
leans, and came in sight of the frowning cliff 
guarding the river at the point which the In- 
dians called Kebec. It was here that Cham- 
plain had already virtually decided, after 
earnest talk with Pontgrave, to fix his abode. 
According to Faillon, the spot had been indi- 
cated by De Monts himself, who had doubtless 
visited it when on the St. Lawrence with Chau- 
vin in 1599. At the side of the towering rock a 
small stream flowed into the river, its mouth 
forming a kind of bay. The cliff did not ex- 
tend to the water's edge, and at its base was a 
stretch of wooded and cultivable land. The 
spot was a natural fortress. With cannon on 
the cliff and at its base, and perhaps on Point 
Levi opposite, no rival trading ship, no hos- 
tile man-of-war, could pass up the river. The 
inner secrets of the entire northern continent, 
its waterways and lakes, its mineral riches, 
its valuable trade, intercourse with its count- 
less tribes — this was the key to them all. ^ 
On July 3, 1608, the men disembarked, and 
the first foundations of Quebec were laid^ 
The precise spot chosen was not far from the 
present market-place in the Lower Town. 
Men were set to work at once cutting away 

96 



The Founding of Quebec 

vines and felling the walnut-trees to clear a 
space for habitations. Others rough-squared 
timbers and sawed out planks, and still others 
proceeded to dig a cellar. The bark was 
despatched to Tadoussac for another load of 
supplies. The workmen camped in the open, 
in the warm July air, and hurried forward 
Champlain 's first building, a storehouse. 

But trouble was brewing. In Champlain 's 
crew was a ruffianly young fellow named Jean 
Duval, a locksmith by trade, who had already 
given cause for concern. When Baron Poit- 
rincourt and Champlain were in Chatham 
Harbor on Cape Cod, two years before, this 
man with others had defiantly stayed ashore 
one night, in spite of orders to sleep on board 
the bark because of the suspicious behavior 
of the natives. In the night the sailors were 
attacked hj the Indians, two or three of them 
were killed, and Duval was wounded in the 
chest by an arrow. This same man, insubor- 
dinate as ever, was now again with Champlain. 
Discontented, Lescarbot says, with the daily 
rations, which were not distributed abun- 
dantly enough for their liking, he, with four 
others, formed a plot to kill the Governor, 
either by poison, musket-shot, or strangling, 
and to dispose of the valuable stores and the 
newly begun fortress itself to some Spanish 
8 97 



Champlain 

or Basque adventurers who were in the river 
—perhaps the same lawless Basques who had 
resisted Pontgrave at Tadoussac. The five { 
men terrorized others into joining a con- 
spiracy which boded ill for the nascent hopes 
of New France. 

At this juncture a hark from Pontgrave 
opportunely arrived on the scene. One of the 
renegades, Antoine Natel, was at heart op- 
posed to the cowardly plot. He sought the 
pilot of the bark, Captain Guillaume le 
Testu, and unbosomed himself to him. The 
pilot promptly rowed ashore to find Cham- 
plain. The latter was at work in a little gar- 
den which he had been laying out. Testu told 
him what was going on. Natel was sent for, 
and, trembling with fear, was made to disclose 
the full details, Champlain promising him 
immunity. The danger stood revealed. Plain- 
ly it was serious. 

The Governor laid his plans very coolly. 
He had not been for several years an army 
officer without learning to cope with emer- 
gencies. He sent for a young sailor whom he 
could trust, and giving him a couple of bot- 
tles of wine, directed him to invite the four 
ringleaders to come aboard the bark that 
evening and share it with him, as being a 
present from his fellows at Tadoussac. For- 

98 



The Founding of Quebec 

tunately the plotters suspected nothing, and 
they agreed to come, not unwilling to make 
up for the claimed shortness of rations. At 
nightfall the four rowed out to the bark. 

Champlain, ashore, was on the watch, and 
presently followed them. Testu met him as he 
approached the little vessel. With sailors 
whom they could count upon, the two quietly 
made their way forward to the low-decked 
cabin where the men were roystering. When 
the scoundrels lowered their glasses and 
looked angrily to see who the intruders were, 
they were confronted by the muzzles of 
loaded muskets, held in stern and steady 
hands. 

The astonished quartet were trapped. Re- 
sistance was impossible. They were bound, 
and left on board under guard. Then the 
Governor rowing ashore — it was ten o'clock 
in the evening — aroused the rest of the men 
implicated in the affair. He told them what he 
had done, sharply rebuked them for their ac- 
quiescence in the plot, and then extended a 
pardon to them all. The next day he took 
their depositions in writing, and conveyed 
his four handcutfed prisoners in the bark 
to Tadoussac, where Pontgrave had better 
facilities for keeping them under guard than 
he had in his own embryo community. 
L&fC. 99 



Champlain 

Pontgrav^ was startled and indignant at 
the news. His impulse would have been to 
shoot the men then and there ; but Champlain 
preferred more judicial as well as judicious 
measures. The first criminal proceedings in 
the New World should be orderly and be- 
yond criticism. His power was ample. Re- 
turning to Quebec, he again turned his ener- 
gies to the work of building, while Pontgrav6 
went on with his own duties at Tadoussac. In 
September the St. Malouin came up to Que- 
bec according to Champlain 's instructions, 
bringing the prisoners with him. Champlain, 
Pontgrave, the captain of one of the vessels, 
the first and second officers, and a surgeon, sat 
as a court-martial. The trial was conducted 
with military precision. The accused men 
were confronted with the witnesses against 
them, and made a full confession. 

The sentence of the court was that DuvaT] 
should be hanged; and that the three others, 
though meriting the same fate, should be sent 
to France, to undergo whatever punishment 
De Monts, as Lieutenant-General, might in- 
flict. The testimony was carefully written out 
and duly attested. On September 18 Pont-| 
grav6 sailed for home, his vessel's hold well 
stored with furs, the depositions in his strong 
box, and the prisoners in the brig. De Monts 

100 



The Founding of Quebec 

subsequently condemned them to the galleys. 
Duval was publicly hanged, in the little en- 
closure at Quebec, and his head was put on 
a pike which was set up in a conspicuous 
place. 



101 



CHAPTER VIII 

ARROWS AND ARQUEBUSES 
1609 

PoNTGRAVfi's sail had disappeared down 
the river. Champlain, with his sturdy band of 
Frenchmen, was left alone to face the ap- 
proaching winter. Far to the south, an 
equally sturdy band of Englishmen were fa- 
cing their second winter on the James. The 
only other settlement on the North American 
coast was the ancient Spanish one of St. 
Augustine in Florida. 

Champlain pressed forward the work on his 
buildings. Besides the storehouse, there were 
three dwelling-houses, each of two stories, 
with a second-story gallery. Around the 
group of buildings ran a high palisade; and 
there was also a moat, six feet wide and fifteen 
feet deep, with a drawbridge. Small cannon 
planted at the salient angles of the palisade 
commanded the river. Outside the enclosure a 
tract of ground was cleared for cultivation, 

102 




SETTLEMENT AT QUEBEC. (Drawn by (Jhamplaiu. ) 

A. Storehouse. I. Entrance to the buildings, 

B. Dovecote. guarded by a drawbridge. 

C. Armory and quarters for the L. Walk, ten feet in width. 

workmen. M. Moat. 

D. Quarters for the workmen. X. Platform for cannon. 

E. Dial. O. Champlain's garden. 
E. Forge and quarters for the P. Kitchen. 

w^orkmen. Q. Space between the moat and 
G. Gallery. the river. 

H. Apartment of Champlain. R. St. Lawrence River. 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

and wheat, rye, and various seeds were sown. 
Some native grape-vines were also set out. 

The whole was strongly characteristic of 
a period ' ^ when, " as a Canadian writer ^ 
well says, ^^ every seigneur had for himself a 
castle which stood as a protection for him and 
his vassals. Nor was there wanting in Cham- 
IDlain the feudal spirit of the times, the 
chivalry and daring of a true knight; and as 
we pass in imagination within the enclosure 
of his moat and wall, examining the awkward- 
looking buildings within it, climbing the 
ordnance platforms, or peering through the 
loopholes of the gallery, we seem to feel not 
a few of the seventeenth century influences 
floating around us. ' ' 

The buildings were calked as snugly as 
possible; firewood was cut and brought in, 
provisions were apportioned on a fixed scale, 
and the twenty-eight inmates of the rough 
little post settled into a cheerful routine. 
October passed, with its changing leaves, and 
a sharp touch of white frost ; then November 
went by, the harsh winds swept down from the 
northwest, the far-stretching banks of the 
river became hooded with snow, and the long 
cold was upon them. 

In one of Champlain's excursions in the 

^ Dr. J. M. Harper : Transac. Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec. 

103 



Champlain 






neighborhood, he made a most interesting 
discovery. Ascending for two or three miles 
the course of the little stream St. Charles, 
which ran into the St. Lawrence about fifteen 
hundred paces from their camp, he came upon 
a crumbling stone chimney, some rude, half- 
hidden wall foundations, and indications of a 
trench or ditch surrounding what had evi- 
dently been a rough wooden cabin. A few 
worm-eaten timbers were still to be seen, 
and near by some rusted cannon-balls. It 
was the spot where Jacques Cartier and his 
companions had passed that ill-fated winter 
of 1535, seventy-three years before- — the first 
white men to attempt a winter in that desolate 
land. Cartier had called the place St. Croix — 
a name later transferred to a spot farther up 
the St, Lawrence. Here was indeed a moving 
reminder of that historic voyage, reminiscent 
alike of brave accomplishment and of the 
tragedy of death. Champlain must have 
paused long at this spot, sunk in deep and 
perhaps apprehensive reverie. Was his un- 
dertaking to meet the same fate! Were his 
men to perish as miserably as those of Cartier, 
and was he to return to France no more for- 
tunate in striking root in this frozen and hos- 
tile soil? 

The life of the little colony, comfortless 

104 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

enough in many regards, was luxury itself com- 
pared with that of the nomadic Montagnais 
Indians, who, their precarious eel-fishing 
done, roamed the snowy forests for scarce 
game, and at times gnawed greedily even at 
carrion. Beset alike by hunger, biting cold, 
and the terror of attack from their Iroquois 
enemies, they were indeed often in pitiable 
case; and Champlain^s kind heart frequently 
moved him to spare them a little from his not 
too abundant supplies, and even at times to 
give their women and children temporary shel- 
ter within the fort enclosure. He tells in vivid 
words of one band from the other side of the 
river, which, driven by extremest stress of 
famine, attempted to cross in their canoes; 
frantically braving the masses of broken ice 
which an angry wind was sweeping down the 
stream. The canoes were caught and crushed ; 
but the desperate savages, leaping upon 
cakes of floating ice — many of the women 
with papooses on their backs — succeeded at 
last in gaining the northern bank, where the 
little colony's bounty saved them from actual 
famishing. 

While the men were keeping anxious watch 
against the dreaded scurvy, another enemy 
appeared — dysentery, which in the late fall 
carried off two men (one was Antoine Natel) 

105 



Champlain 

and in February several more. The surgeon, 
Bonnerme, also died. Then appeared the 
scurvy itself. Eighteen were attacked, and 
ten of these died, while four more were long 
ill. This was an appallingly high rate of 
mortality. Imagination fails to picture the 
full extent of the horrors of that first winter 
at Quebec, so terribly duplicating those of 
Cartier^s long past imprisonment in the rude 
cabin whose ruins lay buried under the snow 
less than a league away. 

The spring at last crept slowly forward. 
Eight men were alive, including Champlain, 
two hardy young men named Etienne Brul6 
and Nicolas Marsolet, and the pilot La Routte. 
Four of the eight still showed traces of their 
fearful illness. The last cake of ice swept 
down the sullen river, the lingering patches of 
snow vanished from the oozing ground, and 
now at last the doors and close-sealed windows 
might open to the mild May air. 

On June 5th a shallop rounded the 
western end of the Isle of Orleans and came 
into sight of the little post. Pontgrav^ had 
arrived at Tadoussac, and had sent his son- 
in-law, one Claude de Godet des Maretz, or 
des Marais, on to Quebec to carry word to his 
friends. 

Leaving Des Marais in charge, the Gover- 

106 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

nor hurried down to Tadoussac, where he had 
a warm greeting from his old comrade. Pont- 
grave was shocked at the tale of suffering 
which Champlain had to tell, though he re- 
joiced that the latter had escaped with his own 
life. 

An important project was now in Cham- 
plain's mind. During the previous year he 
had arranged with a number of friendly Al- 
gonquins to undertake an exploring trip south- 
ward with them after the winter was past. 
They were to act as guides, and in return he 
was to be their ally in a little campaign against 
their enemies the Iroquois. 

Doubtless if Champlain had then known of 
the real power and prowess of the Five Nations 
which inhabited Central New York, he would 
have thought seriously before committing 
himself and his country to a lasting warfare 
with their formidable tribes. Yet in no other 
way could he so effectively enlist the aid of 
the Algonquins in the work he was determined 
to accomplish of exploring the great continent 
around him. Champlain had been seriously 
criticized for his act; but it is probable that 
it was not an act of deliberate policy, entered 
into with full perception of its far-reaching 
consequences. Doubtless it seemed at the time 
to be but taking sides in an insignificant In- 

107 



Champlain 

dian feud, with opportunity botli for sight- 
seeing and adventure. 

With some of Pontgrav6's men Champlain 
returned to Quebec, where he had a boat fitted 
out for his proposed expedition. He started 
on June 18, with a small contingent of Mon- 
tagnais Indians ; and on an island not far ui3 
the river he came upon an encampment of 
Hurons,^ who proved to be on the way to Que- 
bec to join his party. The rumor of the pro- 
posed foray had been spread far and wide 
along the river, and the savages were over- 
joyed. The Hurons, two or three hundred in 
number, many of whom had never seen white 
men before, gazed at the armored strangers 
with limitless curiosity; and after ceremonies 
of greeting and much speech-making, begged 
Champlain to show them the new and wonder- 
ful French fort before going to the war. He 
good-naturedly turned back with them to Que- 
bec, where they spent several days encamped 
near the post, admiring all they saw, and pre- 
paring for their coming undertaking by up- 
roarious feasting and festivity. 

At the Governor's request Pontgrave with a 
few more men now came up from Tadoussac 
to take charge at Quebec ; and on the twenty- 
ei ghth the augmented wa r-party again set out. 

1 An Iroquois tribe near Lake Huron, who were at war with 
the rest of the Iroquois and were leagued with the Algonquins. 

108 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

r^^Passing Three Rivers and crossing Lake St. 
Peter, Champlain, Des Marais, and the ten 
other men with them ascended the Richelieu 
until stopped by rapids. About their shal- 
lop swarmed the canoes of the Indians, the 
swarthy backs of the naked occupants bending 
to the rhythmic sweep of the paddles. The 
rapids proved to be impassable by boat, 
though the natives had assured the explorer 
to the contrary. Champlain, after careful in- 
vestigation, was compelled to abandon his 
plan of proceeding in the shallop. But his 
promise had been given to the Indians to go 
with them on their expedition, and he would 
not turn back. Moreover, he especially wanted 
to see ^* a large lake, filled with beautiful is- 
lands, and with a fine country surrounding it, ' ' 
which had been described to him. He fear- 
lessly decided to go on himself with the 
Indians by canoe. Two of his men — one of 
the soldiers, and a servant of De Monts — vol- 
unteered to accompany him, the rest return- 
ing to Quebec. 

There were sixty picked Algonquin^ and 
Huron braves, with twenty-four canoes. By 
a long portage they reached a point above the 
rapids, and again launching their canoes, they 

1 The Montagnais, who were represented in the party, were 
really a branch of the Algonquin family. 

109 



Champlain 



glided finally into the peaceful waters of the 
great lake which has ever since borne the name 
of its French discoverer, Champlain. He was 
delighted with its varied beauty, set off by the 
rolling Green Mountains on the eastern hori- 
zon and by the taller peaks of the Adirondacks 
on the south. 

At nightfall of each day the savages pad- 
dled their skiffs ashore, and ran up hasty 
bark cabins, surrounded by a defensive barri- 
cade of stout tree-trunks. No watch was set. 
Champlain remonstrated with them for this. 
The Indians grunted that such was their 
custom; observing stolidly that they worked 
enough in the daytime, without keeping watch 
at night. 

Parts of the days were occupied in hunting ; 
for the rest, the party traveled steadily for- 
ward. The Indians carried with them a kind 
of emergency ration of baked Indian meal, 
which, soaked in water, made a very fair por- 
ridge. This was not to be trenched upon until 
the near presence of enemies made hunting 
unsafe or impossible. The savages were not 
wholly ignorant of certain rude military tac- 
tics, and regularly practised falling into the 
battle formation which their chief prescribed 
for the approaching conflict. As they neared 
the southern end of the lake they grew more 

110 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

wary, encamiDing by day, and moving stealth- 
ily forward at night. 

It was ten o 'clock in the evening of July 29, 
seventeen days after the little fleet had set out 
from above the rapids of the Richelieu. The 
canoes with their dusky paddlers were moving 
cautiously forward, nearing the little promon- 
tory that juts out at Ticonderoga. Suddenly 
a war-whoop was heard. It was the defiant 
yell of the enemies they had come to seek. 

The Iroquois were likewise in canoes, just 
setting out up the lake on a counter foray 
against the Algonquins. Both sides checked 
their progress and drew off a little, preferring 
daybreak for the fighting. The Algonquins 
and Hurons lashed their skiffs together in a 
group, and floated on the lake a bowshot off 
shore, while the Iroquois, hastily disembark- 
ing, barricaded themselves on the bank. The 
night passed in noisy disturbance, with songs 
and shoutings, and with vociferated insults 
bandied back and forth across the water. The 
Iroquois taunted their adversaries with cow- 
ardice, and swore to prove it to their ruin in 
the morning. The latter mockingly jeered 
back, shouting direful threats, and boasting 
mysteriously of having potent weapons which 
their enemies had never seen before. 

As day began to dawn, the invaders paddled 

111 



Champlain 



to the land, a little distance up the lake, and 
prepared for battle. Champlain and his two 
followers, keeping out of sight, put on their 
light armor and loaded their arquebuses. The 
two men with a few of the Indians made a cir- 
cuit into the woods to take the enemy in flank, 
Champlain staying with the main body. Both 
sides advanced to the attack. 

We will let Champlain himself tell of the 
battle. 

^^I saw them come out of their barricade, 
nearly two hundred men, tall and powerful, 
and move slowly toward us with a gravity 
and assurance which amused me vastly. At 
their head were three chiefs. Our men ad- 
vanced with the same order. They told me 
that the men with the three feathers were the 
leaders, . . . and that I should shoot to 
kill them. I promised to do what I could. I 
said I was sorry they could not understand 
me well enough to take instructions as to the 
proper order and formation of the attack, in 
which case we should assuredly win ; but that 
there was no remedy for that now, and that 
I was quite ready to prove by combat my cour- 
age and good-will. ' ' 

The opposing bands now rushed toward 
each other. ''Our men began to call me loud- 
ly; and to give me passage they opened into 

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Arrows and Arquebuses 

two ranks and put me at the head, about 
twenty paces in advance. When I was about 
thirty paces from the enemy, the latter sud- 
denly perceived me. They halted and stared. 
I did the same. When I saw them nervous in 
taking their aim, I put my arquebus to my 
cheek and aimed straight at one of the three 
chiefs. At the shot, two fell dead, and one of 
their companions was so wounded that he died 
shortly after. I had put four balls into my 
gun. When our men saw this shot, so effective 
for them, they began to yell so jubilantly that 
you could not have heard thunder. Volleys 
of arrows now flew from both sides. The 
Iroquois were dumbfounded that two of their 
number should have been killed so promptly, 
seeing that they wore a sort of armor woven 
with cotton thread,^ and carried arrow-proof 
shields. The thing unnerved them. 

* ^ As I was reloading, one of my companions 
fired a shot from the woods. This, following 
on the death of their leaders, so demoralized 
them that they lost their heads completely and 
took to their heels. Abandoning the field and 
their fort, they dashed into the depths of the 

* Parkraan explains that it was made of twigs interlaced with 
vegetable fiber. Golden, in his " Five Nations," describes the 
primitive armor worn by the Iroquois in this fight as " a kind 
of cuirass made of pieces of wood join'd together." 

9 113 



Champlain 

forest, and, pursuing them, I killed several 
others. Our savages also killed a number, and 
took ten or twelve prisoners. The rest es- 
caped, with their wounded. Fifteen or six- 
teen on our side received arrow-wounds, which 
were soon healed.'^ 

Thus went the battle. It was but a holiday 
skirmish for the French. But it was the cause 
of a bitter and bloody hatred on the part of 
the Iroquois — a hatred which never afterward 
slept. The long-standing enmity cherished by 
that nation toward the Algonquins extended 
thenceforth to the French also. In later 
years, when the English and Dutch sided with 
the Iroquois, the feud became a fierce and 
deadly war that at times threatened the life 
of the whole colony of New France. 

For the Iroquois were foes to be feared. 
This was their first experience with musketry, 
but they were soon to come to know its use. 
Their five allied nations, the Mohawks, Onei- 
das, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas,^ com- 
prised the fiercest savages on the continent. 
They dwelt in fortified villages stretching di- 
rectly across the center of what is now the 
State of New York. They tilled the soil, and 
hence were not subject to the terrible inroads 

1 The Oneidas were kin of the Mohawks, and the Cayugas of 
the Senecas. 

114 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

of famine periodically suffered by the less effi- 
cient though more numerous Algonquins. 
They called their line of villages *^the Long 
House ' ' ; and when one tribe was attacked, all 
the rest declared vengeance — vengeance that 
might bide its time but was sure to fall at last. 
Champlain was evoking the enmity of a potent 
foe when he meddled with this war-party of 
Mohawks at Ticonderoga Point, that sunny 
midsummer morning. 

^^On the July day when the Frenchman's 
thunder and lightning so frightened those 
dusky warriors, ' ' says John Fiske in his * ^ New 
France and New England,'' *' a little Dutch 
vessel named the Half Moon, with an English 
captain, was at anchor in Penobscot Bay, 
while the ship's carpenter was cutting and 
fitting a new foremast. A few weeks later, the 
Half Moon dropped anchor above the site of* 
Troy and within the very precincts within 
which the warriors of the Long House kept 
watch. How little did Henry Hudson imagine 
what a drama had already been inaugurated 
in those leafy solitudes! A few shots of an 
arquebus on that July morning had secured 
for Frenchmen the most dangerous enemy and 
for Dutchmen and Englishmen the most help- 
ful friend that the mysterious American wil- 
derness could afford." 

115 



Champlain 

After the battle, the triumphant Algonquins 
took possession of the loot. The Iroquois in 
their panic had abandoned everything — camp, 
canoes, axes, provisions ; even bows and arrows 
and bucklers, which they had thrown aside in 
their precipitate flight. The victors gave 
themselves up to a mad orgy of feasting, dan- 
cing and singing, which lasted for several 
hours. Then the expedition turned home- 
ward. 

At camp, the first evening, Champlain wit- 
nessed a sight which he was often to witness 
again in future years, but always unwillingly 
and with horror — the torture of a prisoner. 
He describes the scene with ghastly minute- 
ness. The savages were deaf to his remon- 
strances at their cruelty. Finally he could 
bear the sight no longer. Finding it impossi- 
ble to save the victim, he seized his carbine and 
put the mangled wretch out of his agony. 

Reaching the St. Lawrence, the Hurons 
took their way westward, parting from the 
Frenchmen with mutual protestations of es- 
teem. They promised to conduct Champlain 
into their own domain the following year, 
provided that he would again fight for them. 
This promise of the Indians meant much to the 
pertinacious pioneer. He was fascinated by the 
unsolved secrets of the continent, and would 

116 



Arrows and Arquebuses 

not be content till he should have explored be- 
yond the St. Lawrence to the great chain of 
lakes of which he had heard, and so, perhaps, 
have opened up the longed-for way to China. 

The Governor returned to Quebec, where all 
eagerly listened to his account of the adven- 
ture. It was his plan to return to France for 
the winter, in order to report to De Monts. 
He went down to Tadoussac to consult with 
Pontgrav^, who had been extending his sphere 
of business operations by a visit to Gasp^; 
and it was agreed that the two should sail for 
home together. In Pontgrave's force was a 
Captain Pierre Chavin or Chauvin, of Dieppe 
(not the Chauvin who, with Pontgrav^, had 
wintered at Tadoussac in 1600), an old but 
trustworthy man, on whom responsibility 
could be placed. To him was confided the care 
of the little colony at Quebec for the coming 
winter. 

Champlain, accompanied by Chauvin, re- 
turned to Quebec, where he put matters in 
order for his departure, leaving again for 
Tadoussac on September 1. On the fifth of 
the month the two shipmates, Champlain and 
Pontgrave, set sail from the mouth of the 
Saguenay, and on the thirteenth of October 
were safely warped alongside the ancient 
stone quay at Honfleur. 

117 



CHAPTER IX 

ANOTHER FOREST BATTLE 
1610 

De Monts was unable to get his concession 
renewed. The king was friendly but firm. 
He listened affably to Champlain ^s narrative ; 
graciously accepted the native girdle of porcu- 
pine quills, the skull of a garpike, two scar- 
let tanagers, and the dried head and arms of 
a slain Iroquois, which the Algonquins had 
generously sent him ; and agreed with all that 
was urged as to the expediency of continuing 
the little settlement on the St. Lawrence. De 
Monts might continue as Lieutenant- General 
of New France, if he so desired. But the trade 
must be open to all. 

De Monts was troubled. It would be hard 
to maintain the colony without some restric- 
tion in the trade. He had already lost a 
hundred thousand livres in his Acadian 
venture. But he had persistence in following 
up his enterprise. That little fort under the 

118 



Another Forest Battle 

cliff, at the narrowing of the river, was dear 
to him and to Champlain. It stood for an 
idea, an ambition. Moreover, Quebec as a 
base would enable Champlain to penetrate 
farther into lands beyond, and perhaps par- 
allel in the north the rich discoveries of Cortez 
and Pizarro far in the south. If gold should 
not be found, copper at least might be. 
Though the monopoly had expired, there re- 
mained the right to trade on equal terms with 
others, and this was not without some margin 
of profit to recoup expenses. But above this, 
a real spirit of patriotism seems to have ani- 
mated De Monts in his earnest wish to foster 
the infant colony. 

With Champlain he went to Rouen, to con- 
sult with two of his partners in the company ; 
and it was agreed to hold to their plans. 
Champlain was to continue as Governor of the 
province, and Pontgrav^ was again to have 
charge of the commercial side of the enter- 
prise. An early start in the spring was pro- 
jected. Champlain spent the winter in Paris, 
and repaired to Honfleur at the end of Febru- 
ary, 1610, sailing with Pontgrav^ on March 
7. Fog and storm detained the vessel awhile 
in English harbors. During this time, Cham- 
plain became ill and went back by boat to 
Havre for medical care. Shortly after, Pont- 

119 



Champlain 

grav6 came back also, to procure more ballast 
for his vessel; and Champlain, though not yet 
wholly convalescent, was able to embark again 
with him on April 8. 

The throwing oi3en of the fur traffic had 
had its prompt effect; and at Tadoussac, in- 
stead of the one defiant Basque trader whom 
Pontgrave had attacked with more valor than 
discretion the year before, there were now 
several vessels, eagerly competing for the In- 
dians ' store of peltries. There were still other 
vessels farther up the river. They had has- 
tened across to forestall De Monts's ships. 

Here, too, at Tadoussac were numer- 
ous Montagnais, impatiently awaiting Cham- 
plain's arrival. They had not forgotten his 
promise to fight again with them against the 
Iroquois, and they could scarcely control their 
eagerness to win another such victory as the 
one on Lake Champlain. The Governor as- 
sured them that his promise still held good, 
and the braves shouted with delight. They 
had learned to trust his word implicitly. 

'^Here are a lot of Basques and St. Ma- 
louins,'' Champlain quotes them as saying. 
^'They tell us that they too would come and 
fight for us if we liked. What do you think of 
it ? Are they telling the truth ? ' ' 

'^No, they are not,'' he promptly replied. 

120 



Another Forest Battle 

'*I know their intentions well enough. They 
tell you this only to get your trade. ' ^ 

*^The white Governor is right P' cried the 
Indians. ' * They are women, and want only to 
make war upon our beavers.'' And the sav- 
ages laughed contemptuously. 

Champlain now proceeded up the river to 
Quebec. Sixty red-skinned warriors accom- 
panied him in their canoes. Everything was 
found in excellent condition at the settlement. 
The winter had been mild, and there had been 
almost no illness. This was most reassuring, 
after past hardships. *^It shows,'' remarks 
our author, '4iow those attempting to start 
similar colonies in the future ought to proceed. 
It is not easy to found a new settlement with- 
out hard work, and without meeting more or 
less bad fortune the first year, as has happened 
in all our first settlements. As a matter of 
fact, if one avoids salt food and eats fresh 
meats, his health is as good here as in France. ' ' 

Champlain had formed a plan to circumvent 
the rival traders in the river by sending three 
or four barks up to Trois Rivieres, there to 
intercept the natives as they descended the 
stream and to secure their traffic. He carried 
this plan into immediate effect. On June 14 
he set out in person for the same place, where 
a rendezvous had been arranged with the Al- 

121 



Champlain 



gonquins and with some expected Hurons. 
The sixty Montagnais, who had gone on ahead, 
were there awaiting him, and the men in the 
barks were found busy in barter. One of 
the natives added fuel to Cliamplain's burn- 
ing wish to explore westward, by presenting 
him with an ingot of solid copper, which he 
said was found ' ^ on the bank of a river near a 
great lake. ' ' The Indian explained that they 
collected the metal in lumps, and melting it, 
spread it out into sheets, which they hammered 
flat by means of stones. 

The little fleet of canoes and Cliamplain's 
barks presently moved on to the mouth of the 
Richelieu, where the party pitched camp for a 
day to await their Algonquin allies, who had 
not yet arrived. As the bright morning sun- 
light glinted along the water, a canoe came 
suddenly into sight, paddled in frantic haste 
toward the camp. As it touched the shore, an 
Algonquin leaped out, bringing exciting tid- 
ings. The Iroquois had this time taken the 
o:ffensive, and a war-party of a hundred strong 
had come down the Richelieu to surprise their 
enemies. Instead, they had themselves been 
surprised by a still larger Algonquin party. 
They had taken refuge in the circular fort or 
barricade which they had run up the night 
before, and the Algonquins could not dislodge 

122 



Another Forest Battle 

them. Even now, the fight was in furious 
progress, a few miles away. 

A scene of frenzied disorder followed. The 
yelling horde made for their canoes, taking 
Champlain and four of his men with them al- 
most by main force. The other Frenchmen, 
who were there for trading purposes, did not 
feel impelled to see this wild adventure 
further, and remained behind, taunted with 
cowardice by the excited savages. The canoes 
splashed their mad way to a point on the op- 
posite bank of the Eichelieu, where the In- 
diams armed themselves with their bucklers, 
bows and arrows, clubs and swords, and took 
to the woods. So fast did they go, that they 
quickly left Champlain and his four com- 
panions guideless in the rear. Encumbered by 
the pikemen's corselets which they wore, and 
tormented by swarms of mosquitoes, they 
stumbled along, in dense woods and under- 
brush, and through swamp and marsh, often 
knee-deep in water. After struggling on for 
a mile and a half, they came up with two of 
their native allies, who guided them to the 
scene of the fight. On the way, an Algonquin 
chief came running back to urge them to 
hurry. The Algonquins and Montagnais had 
tried to force the barricade and had been 
driven back. Several of their best men 

123 



Champlain 



had been killed and others were wounded. 
They had drawn off their forces, and were 
now anxiously waiting for the French- 
men with their invincible arms and ar- 
quebuses. In a few moments, Champlain 
came upon the scene. The opposing bands 
were yelling fiercely at one another; but the 
Algonquin shout which arose at the appear- 
ance of the armed Governor of Canada utterly 
drowned the defiant cries of the entrenched 
foe. 

The battle recommenced fiercely, the sharp 
detonations of the carbines adding greater up- 
roar to the noisy encounter. Just as Cham.- 
plain fired his first shot, a well-aimed arrow, 
headed with flint, struck him. Piercing the 
end of his ear, it entered his neck. With a 
quick pull he tore it out, and fell to firing 
again. The conflict raged hotly. The Iro- 
quois were disconcerted by the gun-fire, but 
fought stubbornly. Champlain saw that a 
breach must be made in their palisade. The 
Algonquins, following his directions, rushed 
in under cover of their long shields, striving 
to open a gap in the fortification, while the 
Europeans kept up a rapid fire. 

At this juncture reenforcements burst upon 
the scene. The sailors who had remained in 
the barks, a league or more away, had heard 

124 




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Another Forest Battle 

the firing, and some of them, unable to refrain 
from taking a hand in the fight, had come 
hurrying through the woods, under the lead 
of a bold young St. Malouin named Des 
Prairies. 

^'When I saw him,'' writes Champlain, **I 
stopped the savages who were pulling down 
the fort, so that the newcomers might have a 
share in the sport.'' The sailors were given 
a chance to fire several volleys, after which the 
entire party rushed the fort together. The 
trapped Iroquois, mad with terror and rage, 
fought desperately, but without avail. Bullets 
poured in through the crevices, piercing their 
unprotected bodies. One after another fell 
writhing. A breach was made, and the place 
was triumphantly carried by storm. 

The victory was complete. Not an Iroquois 
escaped alive, all being killed or captured, or 
drowned in the river while running away. 
The savages scalped the dead, and with their 
trophies exultingly escorted the Frenchmen 
back to the trading barks. 

The Iroquois band had been wiped out. But 
while a hundred had fallen, thousands more 
were in the forests and fields of their home 
country — ^wily, vindictive, merciless, and un- 
forgetting. 

Champlain 's wound was dressed by the 

125 



Champlain 



company's surgeon, who fortunately was in 
one of the barks. The sailors and traders 
yielded the Governor an increased tribute of 
respect. He had shown that he could not only 
govern but fight. The indefinable military air 
of command which he had acquired in army life 
in Brittany was manifestly based on bravery, 
even on daring. In the rough community 
which he controlled, such traits gave a pres- 
tige which was of no little importance. 

Pontgrav^ arrived at Trois Rivieres the day 
after Champlain 's return to that place. He 
had seen the wisdom of his friend's shrewd 
commercial move, and was following it up. 
His bark had a full cargo and was ready for 
business. The belated Hurons, now arriving, 
soon made trade sufficiently brisk. Captain 
Chauvin also ran up from Quebec. Both Pont- 
grav^ and he were greatly interested in the 
story of this second Indian fight, and con- 
gratulated their leader heartily on the out- 
come. 

There was more torture of prisoners — a 
custom too deeply rooted among all the native 
tribes to be checked by the French. Not only 
men but women took part in this horrible 
pastime, each vying with the other in invent- 
ing new torments. Champlain claimed one 
prisoner as his own, thus saving him from the 

126 



Another Forest Battle 

fate of his fellows. The man afterward es- 
caped. 

While at Trois Rivieres, the Governor ar- 
ranged with the Indians to allow one of his 
followers, Etienne Brule, a hardy young lad 
who had heen in Quebec for two seasons, to 
go with them to their winter homes up the 
Ottawa in order to learn their language and 
mode of life. In return, they entrusted to 
Champlain one of their young braves to take 
with him to France. 

For some reason, the explorer found it im- 
practicable to undertake his projected north- 
ern and western trips during that sum- 
mer. He spent several weeks at Quebec, where 
he built additional fortifications around the 
post, and whence he made two or three busi- 
ness trips to Tadoussac. At this time a vessel 
arrived from Brouage, Champlain 's home 
port, bringing startling tidings. King Henry 
IV, stabbed in his state carriage by the dagger 
of a fanatic assassin, was dead, and the young 
Louis XIII, under the regency of his mother, 
Marie de M^dicis, had succeeded to the throne. 

This was grievous news to Champlain, who 
had known the keen and forceful B^arnese 
king for a dozen years and had uniformly 
been honored with his personal friendship. 
What effect the event might have on the for- 

127 



Champlain 



tunes and plans of De Monts and his asso- 
ciates could only be conjectured; but Cham- 
plain felt it important to go back to France 
earlier than he had intended. 

As Captain Chauvin also wished to go back, 
an officer by the name of Du Pare, who had 
been with Chauvin at Quebec during the past 
winter, was put in charge, and the sixteen men 
who were to garrison the post were enjoined 
to render him full obedience. The grain sowed 
the year before was doing well, promising an 
ample supply for the winter. A fine vegetable 
garden was also under cultivation. On Au- 
gust 13 Pontgrave and Champlain sailed from 
Tadoussac and on September 27 entered the 
mouth of the Seine and moored at Honfleur. 



128 



CHAPTER X 

THE BEGINNINGS OF MONTREAL 

1611 

On a wintry Monday afternoon in Decem- 
ber, 1610, a small but interested group of peo- 
ple was gathered in a dingy law office at the 
Sign of the Mirror, in the ancient parish of 
St. Germain I'Auxerrois in Paris. 

Prominent among them was an elderly gen- 
tleman, Nicolas Boulle by name, private secre- 
tary to the king. His wife Marguerite was 
with him ; and close beside them, looking rath- 
er frightened, was a fair-faced little girl of 
twelve— their daughter Marie H^lene. Her 
aunt Genevieve and several friends of the 
family were near by, and the young girl was 
doubtless no less oppressed by their air of 
importance and formality than by the black 
garments, powdered wigs, and official mien 
of the two musty notaries, Nicolas Chocquil- 
lot and Loys Arragon, who sat together at a 
long table. 

10 129 



Champlain 

Not far away was standing Captain the 
Sieur Samuel de Champlain, of Brouage, now 
over forty years of age, soldierly in bearing, 
manly and kind-looking in face.^ He kept 
glancing at the young girl near him, with re- 
assuring smiles mingled with very evident ad- 
miration. By his side was his friend, the noted 
nobleman Pierre du Guast, known as the 
Sieur de Monts, Gentleman in Ordinary of the 
King's Chamber, Governor of Pons in France 
and Lieutenant-General of half a continent 
across the waters. Near by were De Monts 's 
secretary, M. Jean Roernan, a good friend of 
Champlain; De Monts 's Rouen partner, the 
Hon. Lucas Legendre, whose acquaintance 
with Champlain arose from their business 
connections; Counselor Anthoine de Murad, 
a distinguished barrister at court, also a friend 
of the now celebrated traveler; and several 
other gentlemen and well-to-do business men. 
Captain the Sieur Frangois du Pont Grav^ de 
St. Malo was not there, being doubtless too 
busily engrossed at Honfleur ; and one regrets 
the absence from this representative little 
group of Champlain 's intimates, of that tried 
and true old friend, of whom Lescarbot warm- 
ly wrote as "worthy to rank among the heroes 
of New France." 

' See frontispiece. 

130 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

Spread out on the table was a formidable- 
looking sheet of parchment, closely written 
over in the crabbed legal handwriting of the 
time. Large red seals were ready to be affixed. 
It was a contract of marriage between Helene 
Boull(3 and Samuel Champlain. 

It is not known just how long the latter had 
known his child betrothed. Since his last re- 
turn to Paris, three months before, he had had 
apartments in the Rue Tirechappe, in the 
same quarter of the city in which the Boulles 
lived, their home being in the Rue St. Germain 
PAuxerrois, not far from the office in which 
this meeting was now being held. A very 
pretty little romance had evidently been un- 
folding itself during the bright weeks of the 
autumn; and Champlain had astonished the 
worthy secretary of the king by asking him 
for his daughter's hand in marriage. 

M. Boulle was pleased enough, we may be 
sure, to have Sieur Champlain for a son-in- 
law ; but as Helene was still a mere child, it 
was arranged that although the marriage con- 
tract should be signed, and the formal cere- 
mony performed, she should continue for the 
present to live with her parents. 

M. Boulle gave as dowry a sum of six thou- 
sand livres toumois, or 6,000 francs — equal to 
much more than that sum in to-day's money — 

131 



Champlain 

of which three-quarters was to be paid to Chara- 
plain at the signing of the contract. Cham- 
plain on his part agreed to settle eighteen 
hundred livres outright on his wife, and to 
leave to her the income of all his other prop- 
erty '' in case of his death in voyages on the 
sea and in places where he is employed in the 
service of the king. ' ' 

All this and much more, written in the 
quaint legal phraseology of the Old French of 
the day, was read out by the droning voice of 
one of the notaries. Champlain, stepping for- 
ward, signed his name in a bold hand, attested 
by his witnesses; and little H^lene, timidly 
coming up, formed the characters of her own 




name in the place indicated, her father and 
mother signing as guardians. The red seals 
were ajBQxed, and the contract was complete. 

132 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

Two days later, in tlie historic old churcli of 
St. Germain I'Auxerrois, a ceremony of be- 
trothal was performed, the same group with 
others probably gathering to witness it, fol- 
lowed on the next day, December 30, by the 
formal ceremony of marriage. H^lene went 
back to her parents' home; and Champlain, 
with a certain new interest and anticipation in 
life, turned his thoughts again toward the 
wooded wilderness and the struggling colony 
of New France.^ 

For De Mont's's company it was a critical 
time. If an income could be made year by year 
from the fur trade sufficient merely to cover 
outlays, De Monts would be willing to con- 
tinue his Canadian enterprises. Otherwise he 
must give them up, for he had already spent 
great sums of money in the last six years and 
could not longer endure the drain. The com- 
ing summer, it was felt, would be a crucial one. 

Champlain accordingly gave up all plans of 
exploration for the year, and prepared to de- 
vote himself, with Pontgrave's aid, to finding 



» Faillon regards this marriage as arranged in a friendly way 
by De Monts to aid Charaplain's finances, the latter's royal an- 
nuity having probably ceased at the death of the king. He 
argues that it was to give Champlain funds to invest personally 
in the Canada enterprise. But the dowry was scarcely large 
enough to have been a paramount object, and we have nowhere 
found anything to support Faillon's view. 

133 



Champlain 

means of saving the trade. In tlie last days 
of the Paris winter he made his final lingering- 
visits at the home of the Boull^s, and taking 
post for Honfleur, joined Pontgrav^, and em- 
barked on March 1, 1611. 

The allusion in the marriage contract to the 
possibility of Champlain 's demise '' in voyages 
on the sea^' came perilously near to acquiring 
a prescient significance on this passage. Un- 
usually numerous ice-fields were afloat in the 
North Atlantic. Towering bergs surrounded 
the little vessel, great floes closed in around it, 
and fogs enveloped it and added to the danger. 
Shrouds and rigging glistened with frozen 
sleet. For weeks the voyagers drifted or 
frantically tacked about in this huge ice-trap, 
frozen with the cold, worn out with work and 
watching, and having a score of narrow es- 
capes from instant shipwreck. One lofty berg, 
bearing down upon them in the night, just 
shaved the bowsprit as it drove by the ship. 
More than once the small boats were made 
ready, with the desperate plan of putting oif 
to the nearest ice-floe. Splendid seamanship 
and incessant vigilance saved the vessel. 
Captain Pontgrav^ and his crew succeeded 
finally in working it into the gulf, and, scarce- 
ly able to credit their escape, brought their bat- 
tered craft into the little harbor at Tadoussac, 

134 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

firing a cannon-shot in joyous salute. They 
had been no less than seventy-four days on 
this trying voyage. 

The season was late. It was May 13, and 
yet the country was still white with snow. The 
business outlook was not very bright. Already 
three other vessels had fought their way across 
the ice-choked ocean and were bidding for 
skins. There were as yet only a few Mon- 
tagnais to be seen along the river, and these 
were hungry and poor. 

Leaving Pontgrav6 to effect what he could at 
Tadoussac, the indefatigable Champlain, four 
days later, pushed on to Quebec. Du Pare and 
the sixteen others in the colony were all in the 
best of health. The houses in the post had been 
improved from year to year, and were now 
warm and comfortable in any weather. The 
store of provisions had been ample for the 
winter, and the men had had considerable 
fresh game besides. 

This was highly satisfactory. But Cham- 
plain's thoughts were now reaching beyond 
Quebec. He perceived that, with the trade 
open to rivals, an additional site farther up 
the river would be of extreme value, as inter- 
cepting the eastward journeys of the Algon- 
quins and Hurons in the spring. The region 
that naturally suggested itself was at the foot 

135 



Champlain 

of the great rapids, now called the Lachine, 
which he and Pontgravd had viewed and had 
unsuccessfully attempted to pass in 1603. 
This was the head of uninterrupted naviga- 
tion, and here a new settlement could accom- 
plish much. It was at this place that he had 
promised to meet the Algonquins, in order to 
restore to them Savignon, the young Indian 
who had spent the winter in France,^ and to 
greet again the young French lad, Etienne 
Brule, who had wintered in the wigwams on 
the Ottawa. Champlain had thus a double 
reason for a trip up the river. 

There were several merchant vessels at Que- 
bec. All were vying with Champlain and with 
each other in bargaining with the few natives 
who were to be found ; and they watched every 
movement of the company ^s representative 
with jealous eyes. When they saw him repair- 
ing his bark for a farther ascent of the St. Law- 
rence, they promptly fell to building rough 
boats of their own, in order to follow after 
him. 

Champlain gave them the slip as soon as 
possible, reaching the foot of the Rapids on 

1 Lescarbot remarks : " I have often seen this savage of Cham- 
plain's, Savignon, in Paris— a big, lusty buck, who used to laugh 
to see sometimes a couple of men quarrel without [striking or] 
killing each other, saying that they were only women and had 
no courage." 

136 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

May 28. The Algonquins had not yet ap- 
peared. He improved the tnne of waiting by 
making a thorough inspection of the locality, 
with a view to his contemplated new post. He 
had little difficulty in selecting the most de- 
sirable site. It was the spot where he had 
landed witH^Pontgrave eight years before, 
after they had vainly tried to paddle their 
canoe up the Rapids. Here, flanked by a little 
estuary of the river, and backed by the low 
mountain which Cartier had named Mont 
Real, was a stretch of sixty acres of open 
land, suitable alike for habitation and culti- 
vation. In Cartier 's time the Iroquois village 
of Hochelaga had occupied this spot. Fruit 
trees and nut trees were in the vicinity, grapes 
and small fruits were plentiful, and the neigh- 
borhood afforded abundance of game. Out 
in the river near at hand were several small 
islands which might be easily fortified. Clear- 
ly here was an ideal place for a settlement. 
VNo men could be spared this year to form 
a new colony; but Champlain cannily prej 
empted the place for future uses by having d 
tract leveled and cleared, to be built on later.j 
He named the spot Place Royale. It was m 
later times known as Point Caillieres, and 
forms a part of the present city of Montreal. 
He even prepared some soil for gardening, 

137 



Champlain 

and planted numerous seeds. The largest isl- 
and near by in the river he romantically 
named the Island of St. Helene, in remem- 
brance of his little betrothed who was then 
demurely going to school at the Ursuline con- 
vent in the parish of St. Germain TAuxerrois 
in Paris. 

Champlain also made a long trip afoot be- 
yond the Rapids, with Savignon as guide, go- 
ing as far as the Lake of Two Mountains, a 
distance of about twenty-five miles. 

On June 8 Pontgrave appeared on the 
scene, having been unable to accomplish any- 
thing at Tadoussac. In his wake came a 
number of barks, pataches, shallops and 
other nondescript craft, thirteen in all, bring- 
ing free-lance traders, every one greedy for 
business. But there were as yet no Indians 
to do business with. 

At length, on June 13, a swarm of over 
two hundred natives, in light bark canoes 
laden with beaver-skins and other peltries, 
swept fearlessly and safely down the trucu- 
lent Lachine Rapids, and reaching smooth 
water, paddled toward the cluster of barks 
and shallops off Place Royale. Champlain at 
once got into a skiff, and with the Indian, 
Savignon, pushed out to meet them. He 
quickly recognized in one of the canoes the 

138 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

French lad, Etienne Brul6, faithfully brought 
back by his winter hosts. At the same time 
the savages caught sight of Savignon, and a 
great shout of satisfaction went up. Speeches 
were made then and there in midriver, and 
Champlain fired a salute with his arquebus. 
At this, the traders in the thirteen small ves- 
sels in the stream, not to be outdone, fell to 
firing uproarious salutes themselves. 

But this latter excess of demonstration 
proved rather alarming than reassuring to 
the visitors. Champlain and his men they 
trusted unreservedly. But as to newcomers 
they were inclined to feel suspicious. 

Their disquiet was not lessened on going 
ashore. The whole rabble of traders followed 
and accosted them, some ingratiatingly, but 
others with rudeness; made free of their 
cabins, importuned them for their furs, and 
seriously broke into their native reserve. Beg- 
ging Champlain to come to their wigwams in 
the night, the Indian leaders held a long and 
grave consultation with him. They did not at 
all like the state of affairs. Champlain sought 
to reassure them ; but after trading for a day 
or two they secretly broke camp and left, tell- 
ing only the trusted White Governor of their 
intention. They made a halt at the Lake of 
Two Mountains above the Kapids, where the 

139 



Champlain 

strangers' vessels could not follow tliem. 
There they held another consultation with 
Champlain, whom they had asked to meet 
them. They urged him not to let so many men 
come with him for trade next time. He re- 
sponded ruefully that he had not brought them 
this time, the river at present being free to all ; 
but he added that he hoped for better regula- 
tions another year. They then parted in great 
amity, Savignon very regretfully accompany- 
ing his tribe back to their forest homes. He 
told Champlain naively that life in Paris was 
vastly more agreeable than life in the woods. 
Champlain allowed two of his men to repeat 
Etienne Brule's experiment of going to win- 
ter with the savages. One of them accom- 
panied the band of Savignon 's brother, who 
was a prominent chief. The other went with 
a tribe of Ottawas. This idea of Champlain 's 
of encouraging men to live with the Indians 
and learn their language and their ways de- 
veloped into a fixed policy in succeeding 
years. It resulted in producing a set of ex- 
pert interpreters and in greatly facilitating 
intercourse on both sides. Many of these men, 
fascinated with the wild life of the forests, 
came to love it better than life in the settle- 
ments. They became what were called cou- 
reurs de hois — ^ ^ wood rangers. ' ' Eoving and 

140 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

adventurous, they pushed farther and farther 
into the wilderness, carrying with them their 
French traditions, yet often developing some- 
thing of the wildness of the red man himself. 
These coureurs de hois came to play an im- 
portant role in later colonial history. 

On his return from the conference with his 
native friends, the Governor once more evi- 
denced his coolness and intrepidity. Instead 
of letting him go back on foot, as he had come, 
the Indians proposed to take him down the 
Lachine in a canoe. They were marvelously 
expert in this accomplishment ; but as one of 
his men had lost his life in this turbulent 
reach of waters only a few days before, Cham- 
plain might well have been pardoned for pre- 
ferring to walk. But he had the quality of 
venturesomeness essential to every true pio- 
neer. He was quite willing to experiment on 
shooting the Rapids; and shoot them he did, 
safely enough, though not without passing a 
sufficiently exciting quarter of an hour. 

He remained for nearly two months at Place 
Eoyale. Various bands of Hurons and Algon- 
quins arrived from time to time on the scene, 
and owing to their acquaintance with Cham- 
plain and their confidence in him, he and 
Pontgrave succeeded in securing for the 
company the bulk of the season's trade. This 

141 



Champlain 



was the mission of his summer. But it was 
manifest that the business was not what it 
had been in the time of the monopoly; and 
Champlain, as he sailed down the river on 
July 18 toward Quebec, felt no little mis- 
giving as to the long continuance of the enter- 
prise. 

The little post was looking its best. The 
various crops of grain were ripening, vines 
were growing, and the fruit and nut trees were 
laden. The waters of the great river danced 
and flashed under the bright July sun, and 
its majestic banks, far and near, were green 
with rich summer foliage. Champlain, who 
had a charming weakness for flowers and gar- 
dens, planted a number of rose-bushes in the 
cultivated ground by the fort. After effect- 
ing a few repairs in the buildings, he went 
down to Tadoussac, and on Pontgrav^'s ad- 
vice decided to sail for France in a vessel 
from Rochelle which was about to leave on 
its return voyage. De Monts, whom the 
Governor wished to see, was then, as he knew, 
in his home province of Saintonge; and as 
Eochelle was conveniently near, landing there 
would save Champlain a long journey by post 
from Honfleur or Paris. 

He was not reminded on the homeward 
voyage of the perils of the outward one. The 

142 



The Beginnings of Montreal 

ship, which took the northerly exit from the 
Gulf, by Belle Isle, was delayed by fog for 
a few days; but the far-stretching ice-floes 
and menacing bergs which had entrapped 
Champlain in April had now all vanished in 
the summer sea, and the passage was safe and 
speedy. On September 16, Captain Tibaut 
steered his ship skilfully into the harbor of 
Kochelle. 



143 



CHAPTER XI 

A SEARCH FOR THE NORTH SEA 

1613 

From Rochelle down to Brouage is but a 
short journey ; and it is hardly probable that 
Champlain would forego a little visit to his 
birthplace on his way to see De Monts. He 
had not been there for several years. His 
father, we know, was dead; his mother per- 
haps was still living, proud of her son's fame 
and achievements. Possibly that old grizzled 
Proven(^^al captain-uncle, now past the age 
when he could sail the seas for the King of 
Spain, had returned to his old home town to 
live with his widowed sister and to loom large 
in the councils of the superannuated sailors 
in the cabarets along the quays. If so, he 
must have given his nephew a royal and ad- 
miring welcome; and have introduced with 
pride the Governor of Canada to his old cro- 
nies, relating, over manifold glasses of white 
wine, their joint adventures in piloting the 
French transports, filled with Spanish troops, 
from Blavet to Cadiz. 

144 



A Search for the North Sea 

A few things of interest had been happen- 
ing in Brouage since Champlain was last there. 
The Huguenots had been making themselves 
rather noisily prominent in the place, and in 
1611 Marshal de St Luc, presumably the 
son of the town's old governor under whom 
Champlain had served in Brittany, came 
down by post from Paris, armed with royal 
authority, reinforced the royal garrison, and 
expelled many of the Protestants. Out- 
wardly the place looked much as it had looked 
forty years before; and Champlain, ascend- 
ing to the ramparts of the fort, could gaze 
down into the little harbor as of old, or could 
sweep with his eye the wide familiar stretch of 
salt marshes along whose dividing embank- 
ments he used to play as a boy. 

Not far southeast of Brouage was the ini- 
portant stronghold of Pons, one of the princi- 
pal towns of the province. After its capture 
from the Catholics by Coligny in 1560, it had 
been a tower of strength to the Huguenots, and 
later to Henry of Navarre in his war against 
the League. De Monts had recently been ap- 
pointed Governor of this place, and it was 
now to Pons that Champlain bent his steps. 

Here he held an earnest conference with his 
chief. He told De Monts the exact condition 
of affairs at Quebec, pointing out both their 
11 145 



Champlain 

favorable and unfavorable aspects, as bearing 
on the prospects of the company. De Monts 
decided to proceed to Paris to confer with his 
IDartners. 

Champlain, who started for the capital a 
few days before him, undertook part of the 
journey on horseback. One day, while he was 
riding briskly on, his horse suddenly stum- 
bled. Horse and rider fell heavily, the rider 
underneath. 

It was a narrow escape from death. And 
the death of Champlain would have imperilled 
the life of New France. As it was, he was 
badly hurt ; and it was some days or weeks be- 
fore he was able to proceed on his way. 

He found that De Monts had reached Paris 
before him, and had gone to Fontainebleau, 
where the court was. Champlain, joining him 
there, learned that De Monts 's partners had 
had enough of the Canadian venture, and were 
unwilling to carry it any further. But De 
Monts himself could not yet make up his mind 
to give up that little post at Quebec, as he had 
been compelled to give up the post at Port 
Royal four years before. With rare tenacity 
of purpose he undertook to buy out his asso- 
ciates, though his resources had already been 
heavily depleted by his transatlantic enter- 
prises. He cherished hopes that the new 

146. 



A Search for the North Sea 

king's government, now that it was fairly es- 
tablished, would see the importance of giving 
official aid to his project. He sent out some 
additional men to Quebec, and declared that he 
would stand by Champlain to the last. . 

But he soon found that he had too heavy a 
burden to bear. His finances temporarily col- 
lapsed; and, troubled and hard pressed, he 
summoned Champlain and told him that a new 
lieutenant-general must be found. It was 
with deepest regret that his friend heard of 
this decision ; but he knew too well what sac- 
rifices De Monts had already made for New 
France to urge him to make further ones. 

The name of this high-minded nobleman 
henceforward appears much less conspicu- 
ously in Canadian history. It is an ornament 
alike to New France and to his own country, 
whose interests he had persisted in serving 
as it were against its will. He did not with- 
draw entirely from participation in trans- 
atlantic developments, retaining for many 
years a certain monetary interest in the suc- 
cessive companies which followed his own.^ 

De Monts had come to have no less confi- 



' ^ The Encyclopedie Larousse states that De Monts died in 
1611 ; but this is clearly an error. That he was still living and 
active in 1612 is shown by a close study of Champlain's narra- 
tive ; and the same narrative makes mention in 1617 of Sieur 

147 



Champlain 

dence in Champlain as an organizer and busi- 
ness man than as an explorer and administra- 
tor ; and he left in the latter 's hands the entire 
matter of forming a new corporation, and of 
protecting the interests of the old one. Cham- 
plain pondered over the matter very carefully. 
He reasoned that the first essential was to find 
some nobleman, of rank as high as De Monts 's 
or higher, to take the lieutenant-generalship. 
No lesser name would serve; it needed some 
one of influence to deal with the never-ending 
opposition from outside interests. He felt 
further that the shares of the new company 
should be open to general purchase — thus an- 
ticipating the methods of modern corpora- 
tions. This, by enabling them to participate 
in its undertakings, would turn enemies into 
friends, and should do away with much hos- 
tility. 

To obtain a sweeping monopoly was at the 
time, he knew, out of the question; and he 
might not have sought one if he could have 
had it, for he had not a very high opinion of 
the rightfulness of these concessions. Yet 
it seemed clear that under entirely open trade 



de Monts as drawing up certain papers in connection with the 
company which succeeded his own. Charleyoix speaks of the 
Canadian voyage of 1628 as being connected with business of 
De Monts's. 

148 



A Search for the North Sea 

no company could carry on a successful busi- 
ness. Champlain had seen the results of open 
trade during his last visit to the St. Lawrence. 
He therefore projected a compromise plan by 
which trade on the river above Quebec should 
be restricted, and trade below that point 
should be free. 

He drew up a financial prospectus, and sub- 
mitted it to the Secretary of the Treasury, the 
venerable Councillor Pierre Jeannin, who 
gave it his entire approval. For president of 
the new corporation, Champlain 's choice had 
fallen on Prince Charles de Bourbon, known 
as the Count de Soissons, then Governor of 
Normandy and Dauphin^, and a Grand Master 
of France. Obtaining an introduction to the 
Prince from a member of the Royal Council, 
Champlain laid the plan before him. Maps 
were studied and the whole question was fully 
discussed. The proposition interested Sois- 
sons. He accepted the protectorate of the en- 
terprise, stipulating that Champlain should 
continue as Governor. The charter passed the 
Council ; and the outlook began to seem bright 
again. 

At this juncture, the Count de Soissons was 
taken suddenly ill at his Chateau de Blandy, 
and on November 1, 1612, he died. This threw 
matters again into confusion. Champlain did 

149 



Champlain 



not dream of losing heart. Without delay he 
presented his plans to Henry de Bourbon II., 
Prince de Conde, grandson of one great leader 
who bore the name of Conde, and father of a 
still greater one. This prince had married a 
sister of the Duke of Montmorency. He was 
of the blood royal, and his position was one of 
the highest in the kingdom. He was very fond 
of money, and it is probable that the commer- 
cial possibilities of the enterprise attracted 
him more than did its broader motives. He 
consented to become the patron of the under- 
taking. 

All these negotiations had consumed many 
months of time. The winter of 1611-12 and 
most of the following year had passed. Cham- 
plain had been compelled to forego his annual 
voyage. But the supply-ships had gone over 
as usual, and had returned bringing news of 
the settlement. Over two hundred Hurons 
and Algonquins had come to the foot of the 
rapids, in the expectation of again meeting 
Champlain, and had been greatly disappointed 
at not seeing him. There had been the same 
crowd of traders at this point as in the sum- 
mer before, and these men, in order to capture 
the trade of the Indians, had told them that 
Champlain was dead. The new men sent 
over by De Monts had assured them to the con- 

150 



A Search for the North Sea 

trary; but the report of the general state of 
affairs along the St. Lawrence made the 
Governor chafe at his enforced detention in 
France. 

On the ships returning this fall (1612) were 
the two men who had wintered with the na- 
tives. One of these was named Nicolas de 
Vignau. He had gone with his dusky hosts 
up the Ottawa ; and he brought home to France 
a most interesting report. He said that he 
had followed up the Ottawa to a large lake, and 
thence to a salt-water sea at the north, where 
he had seen the remains of an English vessel 
which had been wrecked. Its survivors, the 
Indians had told him, had escaped to land; 
but there, getting into difficulty with the 
natives in the elfort to obtain provisions, they 
had all been killed and scalped. Now Henry 
Hudson, two years before, had discovered the 
great northern bay which bears his name ; he 
had wintered in its lower part ; and later, his 
sailors mutinying, he and his officers had been 
cast adrift, and they had not been heard of 
since. Vignau 's story, therefore, awakened 
the keenest excitement in Paris, and the young 
man found himself quite a lion. To Cham- 
plain especially this narrative opened up pos- 
sibilities of important exploration. Here was 
without doubt the Northwest Passage to China 

151 



Champlain 

and the Orient which he had so long de- 
sired to find. After questioning Vignau ex- 
haustively, he consulted about the matter with 
Secretary Jeannin, Chancellor Sillery, and 
other men of prominence, including his old 
Brittany general. Marshal de Brissac, who 
was then living at court. They all urged 
Champlain to make the same trip himself, tak- 
ing Vignau with him ; and he determined that 
his next journey to Canada should have this 
for its main object. 

On November 20, 1612, Cond6 was formally 
gazetted Lieutenant-General of New France 
and president of the new company; and two 
days later Champlain was reappointed Gov- 
ernor of Canada. His powers were the broad- 
est possible. He might appoint subordinates, 
regulate justice, construct forts, make treaties 
or war with the natives and govern trade. He 
was enjoined to foster and extend the Roman 
Catholic religion. In particular, he was to 
make explorations, ^' notably from the place 
called Quebec, ... in order to try to 
find any easy route by which to go through 
the said country to the country of China 
and the East Indies.'' The ensuing winter 
brought out some unexpected opposition, 
which it took all of Champlain 's perse- 
verance and pertinacity to overcome ; and it 

152 



A Search for the North Sea 

was not until the close approach of the spring 
of 1613 that he knew whether Conde's five 
ships were free to sail or not. 

Meanwhile he was doubtless often at the 
Bounds ' and saw as much as he could of his 
little affianced. H^lene at the time of her be- 
trothal had been a Protestant, her parents 
both being of the religion ' ' pretended re- 
formed, ' ' as its enemies used to call it. Cham- 
plain was a sincere though never bigoted 
Catholic ; he had brought the young girl under 
Ursuline influences, and during this and the 
following years he succeeded in molding 
her plastic mind to his own beliefs. 

At length he bade adieu again to Paris, its 
work, its worries and its pleasures, and after 
a brief business visit in Rouen made his way 
down to Honfleur, where Captain Pontgrav^, 
a little older, a little stouter perhaps, and red- 
der in the face from the long buffeting of the 
Atlantic winds, but as jovial as ever, was ex- 
pecting him. The two sailed on March 6, 1613, 
and on April 29 came in sight of Tadous- 

sac. 

A group of half-starved Montagnais Indians 
perceived the approaching vessel. With jubi- 
lant shouts they threw themselves into their 
canoes and paddled furiously toward it. 
Clambering on board without ceremony, they 

153 



Champlain 

eagerly demanded to know whether Cham- 
plain was there. The latter jokingly kept in 
the background, and his sailors declared that 
he had remained in France. The Indians 
would not believe it. They began a clamorous 
search. An old man saw a figure pacing the 
deck on the other side of the ship. Running 
over, he took hold of the man's ear. There 
were the plain scars of an arrow-wound. He 
gave a great cry, and the others rushing across 
fairly mobbed their beloved White Governor 
in their demonstrations of joy. Pontgrave 
was hugely amused, and his jolly sides shook 
with laughing. 

Champlain, pushing on to Quebec, which ho 
reached on May 7, found the little colony in 
good condition. There had been little severe 
cold and no sickness. At St. Helen's Island, 
opposite the little clearing at Montreal, Cham- 
plain found the scene much quieter than it had 
been in 1611. His work in Paris had had its 
effect. The noisy crowd of general traders 
had vanished, the river west of Quebec being 
now closed to them again. One of Cham- 
plain's barks was peacefully trading with 
the Indians. Business had not yet, however, 
fully recovered, the natives not generally 
knowing of the new and more satisfactory 
turn of affairs. 

154 



A Search for the North Sea 

On May 27 Champlain hopefully set out 
from St. Helen's Island in search of that 
northern sea of which Vignau had told him. 
Vignau was with him, and two other French- 
men (one of whom afterward turned back) 
were in the party. They had two canoes, and 
were piloted by an Algonquin, another native 
joining them later. From the start the travel- 
ing proved to be no holiday pastime. Carry- 
ing their canoes around the Lachine Kapids, 
they went up the St. Lawrence to the mouth 
of the Ottawa, into which thev turned. When 
the current was smooth, they paddled; when 
it was rougher, they toilsomely picked their 
way along the broken banks, towing their 
skiffs ; when this was impossible they carried 
canoes and cargo bodily through the woods. 
In the hot July sun the task might well ^ ^ make 
one sweat,'' as Champlain placidly remarks. 
The party had more than one narrow escape 
from accident at certain dangerous points. 
For ten days they fought their way forward. 
The mosquitoes were ravenous. Fallen trees 
impeded their portages. They had to leave 
behind them some of their baggage and most 
of their provisions, as the loads were too ex- 
hausting. But they toiled on, cheered by 
Vignau 's vivid pictures of the great salt sea 
at their north, though little encouraged by his 

155 



Champlain 



account of the difficulties still ahead. At 
Muskrat Lake^ they found a friendly chief 
who aided them in reaching Allumette Island. 
On the island dwelt a powerful Algonquin 
tribe which from that point commanded the Ot- 
tawa and exacted tribute from parties descend- 
ing for trade. Here was an old chief, Tessouat 
— probably the same one that Champlain had 
met at Tadoussac on his first visit to Canada 
in 1603 and whom he had then called Besouat. 
The Indian was amazed to see his distin- 
guished visitor, but gave him a hearty wel- 
come and the best of native hospitality. 

Champlain now felt with satisfaction that 
he was nearing his goal. But a rude awaken- 
ing was in store for him. At a feast in his 
honor the next day, he told the Indians the ob- 
ject of his trip, referring to Vignau as having 
seen the great sea the year before. They at 
first laughed at him; then, as he appeared to 
be very much in earnest, they turned indig- 
nantly upon Vignau. They averred that the 
young man had spent the entire winter on their 



1 In Ross County, near Muskrat Lake, on what is now called 
the Old Portage Road, the path which Champlain must have fol- 
lowed, there was found in 1867 an astrolabe, an instrument for 
determining latitudes. It is supposed to have been lost by 
Champlain on this trip. Only three astrolabes, of which this is 
one, are known to be in existence to-day, 

156 



A Search for the North Sea 

island and had never gone a step farther to 
the north. Nicolas vehemently declared that 
he had. On this, a great outcry arose. They 
fell upon him with a fierce cross-question- 
ing ; and finally he broke down, and confessed 
that it was all a gigantic hoax. Champlain, 
amazed, learned that the man had never 
been above Allumette Island, where they now 
were, but had fashioned this tale of discovery 
out of whole cloth, in quest of reward from 
the company and of renown in France. Vig- 
nau had been aghast when he had found that 
Champlain proposed making the trip ; but he 
had held stoutly to his story, fervently hop- 
ing that his leader might become discouraged 
on the way or might meet with insuperable 
obstacles, so that the tale would escape being 
discredited. 

It was a bitter draught for Champlain to 
drink. Both his pride and his ambition had 
been played with. He had been most egre- 
giously fooled. The best of the summer had 
been wasted. The Northern Sea was as far- 
off an abstraction as ever. 

The Indians exulted. They had assured 
Champlain that it was utterly impossible to 
reach the open water from their country. 
They could not forbear a little malicious 
taunting. ** Now, who were your friends? " 

157 



Champlain 

they jested. '' Don't you see that he want- 
ed to cause your death. Give him to us, 
and we promise you that he shall never lie 



again. ' ' 



But the Governor would not hear of this. 
Deeply angry as he was with Vignau, he for- 
bade the Indians to molest the impostor, say- 
ing that he wanted to exhibit him to the gen- 
tlemen at the Rapids to whom Vignau had 
boastfully promised to bring back some salt 
water. There, he said, they would deliberate 
upon his punishment. 

There was nothing to do but turn back along 
the interminable route by which the little 
party had come. Before leaving the island, 
Champlain did a stroke of business, by ex- 
plaining that his company had now four ves- 
sels at the Rapids, laden with merchandise for 
traffic; and that the other traders had been 
kept away, so that the Indians would be well 
treated. The Algonquins listened eagerly, 
and soon spread the news along the river. 
Champlain also did a characteristic act of 
piety. He had a large cross made of white 
cedar, carved upon it the arms of France, and 
erected it at a prominent point on the shore. 
He had found time to put up several similar 
crosses along his way. He urged the savages 
to preserve them, saying that to do so would 

^158 



A Search for the North Sea 

bring good fortune ; and these children of the 
woods, readily impressed by anything that 
savored of charms or magic, solemnly prom- 
ised to do so. 

The Frenchmen had the consolation of re- 
turning with a much grander escort than they 
had had in coming. Forty canoes set out to- 
gether. Others joined them along the way, 
until the number was increased to eighty. 
With this imposing flotilla, the Governor, 
after a week's journey, arrived safely at Mon- 
treal. 

The only punishment that Champlain in- 
flicted on Vignau was to compel him to stand 
up before an assemblage of all his compatriots 
at Montreal and publicly to confess the des- 
picable part he had played. The young fellow 
had pleaded for forgiveness, vowing that he 
would do penance another year by honestly try- 
ing to force a way to the fabled sea ; and with 
that condition Champlain let him off from 
other punishment. * ^ We left him to the mercy 
of God,'' quaintly says the disappointed but 
magnanimous Governor. 

Champlain had at least the satisfaction of 
having explored the Ottawa Eiver for a long 
distance, and the further satisfaction of hav- 
ing done much to help the year's trade by 
bringing so many Indians back with him to 

159 



Champlain 



the Eapids. He was now anxious to return 
to France to complete the formation of the new 
company; and going down to Tadoussac, he 
sailed for St. Malo, arriving on August 26, 
1613. 



160 



CHAPTER XII 

A WINTER AMONG THE HURONS 
1615-1616 

The new transatlantic trading trust was 
finally successfully floated. Its privileges 
were to run for eleven years. One-third each 
of the disposable stock was allotted respec- 
tively to Rouen, St. Malo, and La Rochelle. 
The Rochelle merchants made difficulties and 
failed to take up their option within the time 
limited, and the whole amount was appor- 
tioned equally between the other two cities, 
representing Normandy and Brittany. The 
Rochellois were considerably disconcerted at 
this, and for a time gave no little trouble ; but 
the vigilant Champlain balked all their hostile 
schemes, and the new company seemed at last 
to rest on a sound and solid footing. There 
were certain features about it which he would 
have liked to alter ; but as he sagely remarked, 
^4t was necessary to make arrows of all 
woods. ' ^ 

In the autumn of 1613 he brought out a 
second volume of his Voyages. The publisher 
13 161 



Champlain 



evidently felt assured of a remunerative 
sale, for lie issued the work in substantial 
and even costly form, with the author's illus- 
trations carefully reproduced in fine engrav- 
ings. 

It was felt by Champlain that the time had 
now come for religious influences to strike 
root in Canada. Acadia had already been 
made a Jesuit mission. Priests were equally 
needed along the St. Lawrence. Among 
Champlain ^s old friends was a Sieur Louis 
Houel, Secretary of the King and also Con- 
troller-General of the salt works at Brouage. 
Sieur Houel recommended to Champlain to 
take with him some friars of the Eecollets, a 
Franciscan order, which had the devoutness 
without the political ambitions of the Jesuits. 
The papal sanction was obtained, and four 
missionaries were chosen, two being Brothers 
of the ''Province of the Conception," whose 
convent was at Brouage itself. The names of 
these four men— the first representatives of 
the Holy Catholic Church in Canada proper 
—were Father Denis Jamay, Father Jean 
d'Olbeau, Father Joseph Le Caron, and 
Brother Pacifique du Plessis. 

In these and other negotiations Champlain 
again spent a year and a half in France, not 
setting sail for Canada until April 24, 1615. 

162 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

The company had fitted out an unusually large 
and fine vessel, the St. Etienne, of three hun- 
dred and fifty tons, commanded of course by 
the veteran Pontgrave. They reached Tadous- 
sac on May 25, and went on at once to Que- 
bec. Here, in an extemporized chapel, near 
the site of the present Notre Dame des Vic- 
toires, the first mass was celebrated by Father 
d'Olbeau and the other priests on June 25. 
They felt, says Sagard, ' ' a gladness of spirit 
which can not be described ; tears of joy welled 
from their eyes. It seemed to them that they 
had found Paradise in this savage country, 
and they hoped to draw the angels to their aid 
in conversion of this poor people, more ig- 
norant than wicked. ' ' Their first act on land- 
ing, as Sixte le Tac relates, had been to kiss 
the soil and to thank God for having called 
them to this field of arduous labor. 

Father Le Caron, making his way higher up 
the river to the foot of the Rapids, found there 
a great concourse of Hurons and other Indi- 
ans, and what he saw of them so interested him 
that he determined to spend the winter in their 
country. He soon set out with a number of 
the Hurons, Champlain, who had also arrived 
at Montreal, sending some of his own men 
with him. Meanwhile the Governor himself 
was importuned by the savages to undertake a 

163 



Champlain 



third expedition against the Iroquois. They 
proposed this time an attack against one of 
the more westerly of the Five Nations. As 
this would afford him a fine opportunity for 
penetrating into new regions, the Governor as- 
sented. With ten Indians, and with two men 
of his own (one of whom was Etienne Brule, 
the young interpreter who had been the first 
to winter with the Indians), he started on the 
track of Le Caron. 

The route took him at first over the same 
ground that he had covered on his fruitless 
journey with Vignau, two years before. Again 
they forced their canoes against the current, 
struggled through the woods around frequent 
falls, and encamped by night in the savage 
solitudes of the wilderness. The discomfort 
and chagrin of the former trip came vivid- 
ly back to Champlain. Passing Allumette 
Island, they kept on to Lake Nipissing, where 
the Frenchmen made acquaintance with new 
tribes ; and finally they reached the shore of 
Lake Huron. Champlain gazed with fascina- 
tion at this vast stretch of water, whose extent 
his Indian guides described to him in graphic 
words. But the water was fresh, as he had 
known in advance, and he had no illusions as 
to its being the ocean that washed the shore 
of Cathay. 

164 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

Skirting the shores of Georgian Bay, Cham- 
plain at length found himself in the country 
of the Hurons, who inhabited the region be- 
tween that bay and Lake Simcoe. There he 
visited village after village, being received 
with the most marked demonstrations, and be- 
ing much impressed with the superiority of 
these people over the more squalid tribes along 
the St. Lawrence. The Hurons, Ottawas and 
Montagnais (the latter two being of the family 
of the Algonquins) have been termed respec- 
tively the nobles, burghers and peasantry of 
the Canadian forests. The visitor was enter- 
tained by a succession of feasts and dances. 
At the village of Carhagouha the welcome 
sound of familiar voices fell on his ear, and he 
was greeted by Father Le Caron and the 
French soldiers who had accompanied him. 
They had arrived a little before by the same 
fatiguing route. The Recollet friar was tired 
and worn after his rough trip, but full of holy 
zeal. He had prevailed on the villagers to set 
apart for him a small cabin just out of the vil- 
lage, and had set up a cross by its side. Here 
on August 12 he celebrated mass, and thus in- 
augurated the first mission among these far- 
off races. 

The Indians were to furnish 2,500 braves 
for the war, which was planned on a much 

1G5 



Champlain 

larger scale than the two others in which 
Champlain had taken part. The object of 
attack was an important fortified town, prob- 
ably of the Oneidas. There was some delay, 
and it was not until the latter part of Sep- 
tember that the force began its march. Even 
then, only a small fraction of the number of 
warriors promised had presented themselves. 
Five hundred more of a neighboring tribe had 
agreed to assist them, and as these had not yet 
arrived, Etienne BruM with twelve of the 
Hurons undertook to meet them and hurry 
them after the expedition. 

Striking at once southeastward, the band at 
length, by paddle and portage, reached the 
shore of Lake Ontario, at its northeast end. 
Excellent deer-hunting beguiled the way. 
Ferrying themselves across the broad comer 
of the lake, the war-party hid their fleet of ca- 
noes in the woods near the shore and proceeded 
on foot. It was slow progress. The forest was 
dense, and caution was now necessary. They 
passed Lake Oneida and its outlet. On Octo- 
ber 8, a month after they had started, they 
came upon and captured a little fishing-party 
of eleven Iroquois, among whom were several 
women. A Huron chief, desiring an agree- 
able foretaste of the forthcoming tortures to 
be inflicted upon them, cut off a woman's 

166 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

finger. At this Champlain energetically re- 
monstrated. He told the chief that it was not 
the act of a warrior to show cruelty toward 
women, who had no defense but their tears, 
and who being weak and helpless should be 
treated with humanity. He warmly stigma- 
tized such conduct as a brutal outrage. The 
surprised chief claimed that it was no more 
than the Iroquois would do to a captured 
Huron woman; but he finally said with re- 
luctance that if his friend objected with such 
vigor, he would not torture the women, 
* though he would the men.'' 

No other incident in Champlain 's life has 
attracted the same attention from American 
antiquarians as has this third raid against the 
Iroquois. There has been not a little discus- 
sion as to the exact location of the fortified 
town which this Huron war-party proposed 
to attack. Mr. 0. H. Marshall, after an elab- 
orate review of the explorer's own narrative, 
concluded that the site of the Iroquois post 
was on Lake Onondaga, southwest of Lake 
Oneida. Mr. J. R. Brodhead, in his Historv 
of New York, took the same view. Mr. 
George Geddes contended that the fort was on 
Onondaga Creek. Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan 
placed it on Lake Canandaigua. General John 
S. Clark reached the conclusion that the town 

167 



Champlain 

was southeast, rather than southwest, of Lake 
Oneida, and in 1877 unearthed Indian remains 
near Perryville, on the bank of a small and 
shallow body of water known as Nicholses 
Pond, which he held to identify the spot be- 
yond question. Traces of a settlement found 
by him, together with the configuration of the 
ground and watercourses, correspond closely 
with the picture of the fort and buildings 
drawn by Champlain. General Clark's views 
were strongly supported by Mr. L. W. Led- 
yard, and have been accepted by most of the 
later writers, including Dr. J. G. Shea, Dr. W. 
M. Beauchamp, and Mr. Herbert M. Lloyd. 

The party came in sight of the village on 
the day after the capture of the Iroquois fish- 
ing-party. Champlain would have counseled 
a surprise ; but his unmanageable allies rushed 
shouting into the open, and a sharp skirmish 
was at once precipitated. The attack accom- 
plished nothing, and the Iroquois, retiring 
within their fortifications, gave defiance to the 
enemy. 

At a council of war in the woods near by, 
that evening, Champlain showed the Hurons 
how to construct a kind of platform mounted 
on poles, which could be carried near to the 
enemy's palisade, and from which men with 
arquebuses could command the village within. 

168 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

He also had them make long wooden shields 
for their own use in assault. In the morning, 
when all was ready, two hundred sturdy men 
lifted the mounted platform bodily, and 
carried their burden with a rush to within a 
pike's length from the wall which surrounded 
the village, where they set it down with a yell 
of triumph. French sharpshooters in armor 
promptly clambered upon it, and began firing 
down on the enemy with deadly effect. 

So far all was going well. But Champlam 
could not control a wild body of frenzied In- 
dian warriors as he could have maneuvered 
disciplined troops from France. Each 
screeching savage was a law unto himselt. 
They forgot about their wooden shields ; they 
surged uselessly against the quadruple barrier 
of stout tree-trunks, kindled ineffectual fires 
on its lee side, and wasted their arrows m 
showers by aimless shooting. Champlam 
watched their antics with disgust. His shouts 
of warning or command were drowned m the 
tumult. Several of the Huron leaders fell 
wounded. Alarm seized on the rest. The five 
hundred men who were to reinforce them had 
not arrived. At the end of three hours of 
noisy battle, signs of panic began to show 
themselves ; and finally, with Champlam pow- 
erless to hold them back, the demoralized 

169 



Champlain 

invaders took to their heels and sought in- 
glorious refuge in the forest. 

The Governor himself had been twice 
wounded by arrows, once in the leg and once 
on the knee-cap ; and it may be imagined that 
he was not in a very good temper when he 
finally got his disorderly allies together and 
harangued them scornfully. They listened, 
but he could make no impression. Pending 
the arrival of new forces they had no taste for 
further fighting ; and after waiting vainly for 
four or ^ve days for these reinforcements, 
they iDrepared to abandon the field. 

Champlain and his men had no choice but 
to retreat with them. The wound in his knee 
made it impossible to walk; and so, crowded 
into an improvised and uncomfortable wicker 
basket, he was carried on the back of a stal- 
wart Huron. It was not only uncomfortable, 
but for a wounded man excessively painful. 
"I can say so with truth as regards myself," 
writes Champlain ruefully, ^ ^ having been car- 
ried for several days. ... I never found 
myself in such a gehenna. The pain of the 
wound was nothing compared with that which 
I endured when bound and strapped on the 
back of one of our savages. It made me lose 
all patience, and as soon as I could move one 
foot after another I got out of this prison. ' ' 

170 




THE THIRD FIGHT WITH THE IROQUOIS. 

(Drawu by Chauiplaiu. ) 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

The Iroquois exultingly pursued them a 
while, though without inflicting damage. To 
add to the discomfort of the retreating band, 
the weather grew cold — it was in the latter 
half of October — and hail and snow whitened 
the trackless forest. In time, however, the 
party reached Lake Ontario, and finding, to 
their relief, that their canoes were undis- 
turbed, they paddled across its end to the 
northern shore. 

Another disappointment awaited Cham- 
plain. He presently found that his Indian 
friends had no intention of escorting him back 
to Quebec that season. They gave various 
pretexts for this; but in reality they wanted 
him with them during the winter, partly to 
protect them against possible Iroquois re- 
prisals, and partly to renew by frequent dis- 
cussion his interest in war plans for another 
year. The Governor could not succeed in get- 
ting guides or even a canoe for his return. He 
was altogether in a very chagrined mood at 
the outcome of the expedition. However, as 
he had to yield, he yielded with the best philos- 
ophy he could muster. 

The party spent several weeks in the vicin- 
ity of Lake Ontario, occupied in hunting, and 
especially in a deer-drive, which is depicted 
by Champlain in a spirited cut. At about this 

171 



Champlain 



time he had a very narrow escape. Pursuing 
some brightly colored bird, he lost himself in 
the woods, as the young priest Nicolas Aubry 
had lost himself in the Acadian woods eleven 
years before. For three days and nights he 
wandered about, appeasing his hunger by 
some small game which he managed to shoot. 
Coming upon a little brook, he sagaciously 
decided to follow it down, in the hope that it 
flowed into the lake or into some near-by river. 
His hope proved well founded ; the brook led 
him into familiar regions, and late in the after- 
noon of the fourth day he sighted the smoke 
of the Indian fires, and limped into camp 
chilled and exhausted. 

It was not until the end of December, after 
a further trying journey in alternating snow 
and thaw, that the members of the war-party 
separated to go to their several villages. 
Champlain was heartily glad for a while of 
even the rough shelter of the long Indian wig- 
wams. Smoke choked and blinded him, chil- 
dren shrieked and played lawlessly around 
him, fleas bit him, and dogs nosed his sleep- 
ing form ; but in spite of all, on a good diet of 
Indian corn, dried beans and venison, he 
gained back his strength and soundness, and 
in a month was ready for new enterprises. 

With Father Le Caron he made a midwinter 

172 



A Winter Among the Hurons 

tour among various tribes west of the Hurons, 
studying their customs and cultivating their 
friendship. On his return he acted as arbiter 
in a serious quarrel between two tribes. He 
aided Father Le Caron as far as possible in 
his churchly ministrations; but the mission 
had as yet borne no fruit among the savages. 
The Governor and his men fasted all of Lent 
and longer, to set them a good example; 
' ^ but, ' ' he says roguishly, ' ' it was time lost. ' ^ 

The months wore on, and at last the Indians 
were ready to furnish guides and canoes. On 
May 20, 1616, the exiles were able to start on 
their long journey back to Quebec. They re- 
turned by the route which they had taken in 
coming — a journey of forty days; the more 
direct water-route by the upper St. Lawrence . 
being always avoided by the Hurons on ac- 
count of danger from the Iroquois. 

Great was the satisfaction at St. Helen's 
Isle at the return of the wanderers. Cham- 
plain had been given up for lost. Good old 
Pontgrav^, who had just arrived from France 
with two vessels, had hurried up to the Rapids 
in anxious inquiry after his friend; and he 
wrung the Governor's hand again and again, 
while his ruddy face beamed with satisfaction. 

All went down together to Quebec, where 
Du Pare was still in local command. Cham- 

173 



Champlain 



plain had much to tell and much to hear. He 
found all well at his pet settlement, and every- 
thing in good condition. Grains and vege- 
tables were flourishing finely; peas, beans, 
squashes, radishes, cabbages, beets and the 
like were maturing in abundance. Some im- 
ported saplings were growing vigorously. All 
was most promising, and the Governor strolled 
about the place in restful satisfaction. After 
a winter in the wilderness, the rude houses of 
the post seemed like the luxury of civilization. 
Champlain directed the enlargement of 
some of the structures, building now not with 
wood but more durably with lime and sand. 
Finally, at the end of July, he left for Ta- 
doussac, accompanied by Father Le Caron, 
who was also going back to France for the 
winter; and on August 3 they set sail with 
Pontgrave, reaching Honfleur on September 
10. 



174 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE BREWING OF A STORM 
1617-1628 

The next three years were years of con- 
tinual altercations and lawsuits affecting the 
new company. The greater part of this period 
Champlain was compelled to spend in France. 
On his arrival there, he had found that the 
Prince of Conde had for political reasons been 
imprisoned. The Prince's authority over New 
France was for the time deputed to a Marshal 
de Themines, who exercised it until Condi's 
release, three years later. Meanwhile there 
were endless disputes, both between the com- 
pany and its opponents, and within the com- 
pany itself. It required all of Champlain 's 
tact and untiring pertinacity to overcome the 
various difficulties that arose. He ran over 
to Quebec for a while in 1617 ; and again in 
1618, when he adjusted a grave question be- 
tween the settlers and the Indians arising from 
the murder of two of the former by some re- 
vengeful Montagnais ; but he did not feel that 
he could make a long stay on either occasion. 
13 175 



Champlain 



In 1619 he prepared for the first time to take 
his wife across tlie ocean, but at the last, by 
reason of difficulties in the company, he was 
kept from going, and Pontgrave went alone 
in his stead. There was even an attempt made 
to depose Champlain from his position as 
Governor, certain members of the company 
finding him too intractable for their liking; 
but he resisted the attempt indignantly, and 
it failed. In this year, 1619, he published the 
third volume of his Voyages, which was so 
successful that it went into a second edition 
within a twelvemonth. 

Early in 1620, Conde, on his release from 
imprisonment, sold his Lieutenant-General- 
ship of Canada for eleven thousand crowns 
(about $6,600) to his brother-in-law, the Duke 
of Montmorency II., High Admiral of France. 
In the following year Montmorency sought to 
dissolve the existing company, and to place 
the trade in the hands of a certain Huguenot 
merchant, William de Caen, and of his nephew 
Emery de Caen, a naval captain. This caused 
no little disturbance, both in France and in 
Canada, the existing company not being at all 
disposed to rehnquish its rights; and in the 
following year, 1622, the Caens and the com- 
pany consolidated their interests. The com- 
pany received five-twelfths of the consolidated 

176 



The Brewing of a Storm 

stock, in lieu of a proposed cash payment for 
its franchise. One-twelfth of the five was re- 
served for the Sieur De Monts, who was then 
living in retirement in his chateau of Ar- 
dennes in Saintonge, but who had still retained 
a financial interest in the Canada enterprise. 
Later, Montmorency in turn sold his Lieu- 
tenant-Generalship to his nephew, the Duke de 
Ventadour, who was a devoted follower of the 
Jesuits, and who made the purchase purely in 
the interest of religious propagandism. 

Meanwhile, about May 8, 1620, Champlain 
sailed again for Canada, this time taking his 
young wife. They had a long and unpleasant 
passage of two months. Arriving at Tadous- 
sac on July 7, they were greeted by Eustache 
Boulle, H^lene's brother, a youth of about 
eighteen, who had been in Canada for two 
years and a half. He was rather astonished 
to see his sister, and told her that he thought 
she was very brave to undertake such a voy- 
age. On his arrival Champlain was much an- 
noyed to learn that two Rochelle ships had 
been illegally trafficking in the river, and had 
actually given the savages, in return for pel- 
try, some firearms, powder, and lead. This 
was a serious matter; but the offending ves- 
sels, being swift of sail, had escaped when 
pursued. 

177 



Champlain 

A bark was awaiting the Governor at 
Tadoussac, left for him by Pontgrav^, who 
had gone on up the river. Champlain with his 
wife proceeded to Quebec in the bark. It must 
all have seemed very strange and forlorn to 
the young girl, fresh from the civilization 
of Paris. The swarthy-skinned Indians, the 
wide and sullen river, the rough desolation of 
the country — all may well have caused her to 
feel a certain shrinking and misgiving. The 
impression must have been deepened as the 
great cliff of Quebec upreared itself ahead, 
and as the bark landed and she and her hus- 
band stepped upon the shore. The houses of 
the rude trading-post, which were little attract- 
ive at any time, had fallen into grievous dis- 
repair during the Governor's long absence. 
The winds blew in through the crevices in the 
walls, and rain entered from all sides. The 
storehouse was ready to fall, and the court- 
yard was littered with dirt and with rubbish 
from a fallen building. Champlain doubtless 
felt a certain dismay as he led his wife into 
the unpromising enclosure, knowing that this 
barren spot was to be her home. 

A service of thanksgiving for the safe ar- 
rival of the Governor was held in the little 
chapel, and while the cannon boomed out a 
salute, the Governor again took formal pos- 

178 



The Brewing of a Storm 

session of the post and the province in the 
name of the new Lieutenant-General. Cham- 
plain immediately set about repairing and 
rebuilding with characteristic energy. The 
houses of the settlement were enlarged and re- 
fashioned, both wood and stone being used. 
At the same time a fort was begun on the sum- 
mit of the cliff, 172 feet above the water, to 
command the river and protect the settlement 
in case of hostile intrusion. 

The R^collet priests, who had hitherto had 
no separate home of their own in Quebec, and 
only a rough wooden chapel close to the set- 
tlement, had just begun the erection of a con- 
vent and church. They had chosen a site on 
the St. Charles River, about a mile and a half 
from the post, at the spot where the General 
Hospital now stands ; and on June 3 had laid 
the comer-stone of a church to be built of 
masonry. It was finished on May 25, 1621, 
and was called Notre Dame des Anges. Its 
beginning antedates by more than half a year 
the erection of the first New England meeting- 
house on Burial Hill in Plymouth. 

All these building operations occupied much 
of the summer and fall. Champlain was but 
grudgingly supported by the company in his 
fort-making, and even in the repairing of the 
houses in the post, and was unable to do as 

179 



Champlain 



much as he wished ; but at length he could feel 
that he and his companions had habitations 
which were at least secure and weather-tight, 
and he could face the coming winter without 
fear for the health or even the comfort of his 
girl-wife. 

The latter, who was of an intensely religious 
nature, very soon found herself interested in 
the children of the Indians who hung around 
the post; and much of her time during the 
winter was spent in trying to learn something 
of the Algonquin language, and in aiding the 
H^collet friars in their endeavors to instruct 
and convert these wild and shy little savages. 
The Indians were greatly impressed, it is said, 
with Helene's beauty, and would have wor- 
shipped her as a goddess, had she permitted. 
She had a habit of wearing a little mirror as 
a charm, as was then a fashion among Paris 
ladies; and the Indians, seeing their reflec- 
tions in it, used to say poetically that she 
carried each one of them on her heart. 

Save for three serving-women whom she 
had brought with her from France,^ she had 



1 One of these women was probably one Ysabel Terrier, who 
had in 1U17 been engaged by Champlain and his wife for four 
years' service, at thirty livres (^6) a year. The cnrious indent- 
ure of service is found in Documents Intdits sur Samuel de 
Champlain. Etienne Charavay, Paris, 1875. 

180 



The Brewing of a Storm 

almost no companions of her own sex. Two 
other women, the wife and daughter of one 
Louis Hebert, a farmer, lived in a house on the 
cliff ; but their sphere of life was not the same 
as that of the Governor's wife, and she prob- 
ably saw little of them. Much of her time 
was spent in prayer and devotions. 

For four years, or until 1624, Champlain 
remained continuously in Canada. He at- 
tended to the interests of the Viceroy and of 
the merchant company, and maintained his 
friendly relations with the Indians, a small 
tribe of whom made a settlement for them- 
selves near the post at Quebec, in a praise- 
worthy attempt to follow the mode of life of 
the French. He enthusiastically cultivated 
his garden and wheat-field, directed affairs 
within the little settlement, did all that he 
could to divert and entertain his wife, and 
went on occasional hunting trips. In 1622, 
according to Leclercq, the Iroquois, who had 
yearly been growing more daring in their re- 
vengeful raids, made a concerted attack upon 
the French along the St. Lawrence. One of 
their war-parties, in thirty canoes, passed 
Three Rivers and appeared before Quebec. 
Although Champlain was away at the moment, 
they did not venture to assault the post itself; 
but they made a fierce onslaught upon the 

181 



Champlain 

recently built Recollet convent on the St. 
Charles. As the convent was well fortified, 
the valiant friars, aided by the friendly 
Montagnais, repelled the attack; and event- 
ually the Iroquois, having lost several of their 
number, retired, but not before they had 
tortured two Huron prisoners in full view of 
the priests. 

Pontgrave spent the winter of 1622-3 with 
Champlain, as superintendent for the com- 
pany. The old man, who was now over 
seventy, was beginning to be troubled with 
the gout, and in the spring was confined to his 
room for six weeks. He had recently suffered 
a great bereavement, his son Robert having 
died at sea on November 9, 1621 ; but he was 
still brave and cheerful and good-tempered. 

Among Champlain' s improvements at Que- 
bec should be mentioned a path which he con- 
structed from the settlement to the fort at the 
summit of the clitf . The busy and winding 
street now connecting the Lower and the 
Upper Town is believed to follow the course 
of this ancient path. The Governor also drew 
plans for an entirely new set of stone buildings 
to replace those of the post. The work was be- 
gun in the spring of 1624, but was only in 
part completed before Champlain's departure. 

In the same year, by a solemn religious 

182 



The Brewing of a Storm 

service held in the settlement, St. Joseph was 
formally designated as the patron saint of New 
France. The R^collets by this time had es- 
tablished four missions outside of Quebec. One 
was among the Hurons, one among the Nipis- 
sings, one was at Tadoussac, and one was a 
summer mission at Three Rivers, a priest be- 
ing sent there at the season when the Indians 
congregated at the place for trade or treaty. 

During this summer Three Eivers was the 
scene, according to Leclercq, of a conclave 
that seemed to promise much for the peace of 
Canada. The French, with envoys from the 
Hurons and Nipissings, met representatives 
of the Iroquois in order to make a treaty of 
peace. Champlain had made all the arrange- 
ments for the meeting with great care, and 
everything went smoothly. There were in- 
terpreters for each of the different tribes. The 
usual ceremonies of such a conclave were 
punctiliously observed; there was the kettle 
of peace and the solemn smoking of pipes; 
there were presents, feasts and dances; and 
at the end the treaty was formally concluded. 
The peace, however, proved to be only tempo- 
rary, being broken three years later. 

On August 18, 1624, Champlain with his 
wife sailed for France, arriving on October 1 
at Dieppe. 

183 



Champlain 



In 1626 lie crossed again to Canada, this 
time alone. Madame Champlain never re- 
turned to Quebec. The roughness and loneli- 
ness of the country had evidently daunted her ; 
and it is probable that her husband perceived 
this and that he did not seek to persuade her 
to come over a second time. She made her 
home with her mother, in the Rue St. Germain 
1 'Auxerrois in Paris, and as Champlain in the 
following years had occasion to spend nearly 
as much time in France as in Canada, he 
doubtless saw her there at times, though they 
did not again live together. Ten years after 
his death, Mme. Helene, who had become 
deeply desirous of taking the veil, entered the 
Ursuline convent in the Faubourg St. Jacques, 
on November 7, 1645. Three years later she 
founded in the town of Meaux a convent of 
the Ursuline order, endowing it with twenty 
thousand francs, besides giving certain fur- 
nishings, and became a member of its sister- 
hood, under the name of Sister Helene de St. 
Augustin. In consideration of her being the 
foundress, she was granted a few special 
privileges, the very enumeration of which, in 
the ancient document of incorporation, throws 
a vivid flash of light on the austere routine 
of those medieval nunneries. She was ex- 
empted from rising at four; she was waited 

184 



The Brewing of a Storm 

on at times by another sister; she had a 
slightly more nourishing dietary than the 
ordinary, and she was *' lodged in a chamber 
with fire.'^ Letters between herself and her 
brother Eustache, who had at that period also 
taken holy orders, as a friar of the Minimes, 
were to pass without inspection. She died in 
this convent at Meaux on December 20, 1654. 

Champlain, on his arrival at Quebec, found 
there several Jesuit priests in addition to the 
Recollets. The Recollet order, poor, and, as 
they felt, unable to cultivate alone such a 
vast field of proselytizing endeavor, had wel- 
comed the suggestion of aid from the more 
powerful followers of Loyola. In 1625, five 
Jesuits, under the patronage of Ventadour, 
who had succeeded Montmorency as Lieu- 
tenant-General, had made their appearance in 
the colony, among them being Fathers I'Al- 
lemand. Masse, and Brebeuf — names later to 
be nobly immortalized in the history of Cana- 
dian missions. 

The black-robed Jesuits had received a 
rather frigid welcome from the colonists and 
traders of Quebec; but the R^collet priests 
had hospitably shared their own convent with 
the newcomers, until the latter could build for 
themselves, which they soon proceeded to do. 

185 



Champlain 



They chose a spot across the St. Charles at the 
confluence of that stream and the little river 
Lairet, about a quarter of a mile from the 
home of the Eecollets, and on the site of Car- 
tier ^s ancient wintering-place of over ninety 
years before. Their convent, begun Septem- 
ber 1, 1625, was finished April 6, 1626, just 
before Champlain ^s arrival; and this rude 
structure was thenceforth for many years the 
center of the potent Jesuit influences in North 
America. 

The R^collets had at times felt much dis- 
couragement in their work. The small impres- 
sion made by their missionaries' teachings, 
especially among the Montagnais and the Al- 
gonquin Ottawas, worried the earnest fathers 
extremely. Leclercq, writing at a later date, 
but having reference to this period as well, 
says ruefully : * ' They seem incapable of the 
most ordinary reasoning which leads other 
men to the knowledge of a true or false deity. 
These poor blind creatures hear as songs 
what we say of our mysteries ; they take only 
what is material and meets the senses; they 
have their natural vices and unmeaning super- 
stitions, savage, brutal and barbarous man- 
ners and customs. They would willingly be 
baptized ten times a day for a glass of brandy 
and a pipe of tobacco ; they offer us their ehil- 

186 



The Brewing of a Storm 

dren and wish them baptized, but all this with- 
out the least sentiment of religion ; even those 
who have been instructed a whole winter show 
no more discernment of the faith. Very few 
are found not buried in this profound insensi- 
bility, which caused our fathers great alarms 
of conscience, knowing that [to baptize such] 
was profaning the character of the sacra- 
ment. ' ' ^ 

This question of the baptizing of Indians 
was actually carried to the Sorbonne in Paris, 
where it was discussed at much length. It was 
decided that ^*as for dying adults and chil- 
dren beyond hope of recovery the sacrament 
might be risked, where they asked it ; presum- 
ing that at this extremity God gave the adults 
some rays of light, as we thought we saw in 
some of them. As to the other Indians, the 
sacrament should on no account be given them, 
except to those who by long practice and ex- 
perience seemed touched, instructed, and de- 
tached from their savage ways, . . . and 
in like manner to the children of these. Of 
this a formula and kind of fundamental canon 
was drawn up, which served as a rule for our 
missionaries to conform to exactly. ' ' ^ 

^ Leclercq's Establishment of the Faith ; Shea's Transla- 
tion, 
a Ibid. 

187 



Champlain 



The Jesuit Father Le Jeune, several years 
later, found similar difficulties in missionary 
work. His winters in the Indian camps, amid 
the torments of smoke, filth and promiscuity, 
seemed to produce dishearteningly small re- 
sults. The savages made little of his most 
sacred emblems. Writing of a church festival 
in Quebec to which the Indians were admitted, 
he says^: *^The chapel being as handsomely 
decorated as our small riches allowed, the 
savages were quite struck, for we had set up 
images of our St. Francois Xavier on our 
altar. They thought these were living beings, 
and asked if they were not divinities, and the 
tabernacle their house: also if they used as 
habiliments the altar ornaments. There were 
also three images of the Virgin Mary in as 
many places. They imagined these images 
represented three persons. Being told that 
the Virgin Mary was mother of the Creator, 
they laughed, and asked how could any one 
have three mothers ? ' ^ 

The winter of 1626-7 was a very severe one 
on the St. Lawrence. Champlain writes : ^ ^ It 
was one of the longest that I have seen here. 
From November 21 to the end of April the 
snow lay on the ground four feet and a half 



^ Bell's translation, in Garnier's History of Canada. 

188 



The Brewing of a Storm 

deep.'' All were glad when the buds at last 
put forth again and the tardy summer ap- 
peared. 

Pontgrave, arriving at this time from 
France, accompanied by his grandson, Fran- 
^^ois, a promising lad of eleven years, showed 
signs of increasing old age and infirmity. His 
attacks of gout were severe, and he had had 
one on the voyage over. He spent the follow- 
ing winter in the post at Quebec, but he was 
far from being his former active self. Cham- 
plain was distressed to see his old friend fail- 
ing. In fact Pontgrave was not to make any 
more voyages to the St. Lawrence. He had 
faithfully served his employers and his coun- 
try, and his name merits honorable and affec- 
tionate mention among the brave pioneers of 
early Canada. 

The comj^any's business had for the last 
few years proved excellent, the number of 
skins exported to France being from fifteen 
to twenty thousand annually, and in one year 
twenty-two thousand. The Dutch at this time 
were drawing only about four thousand skins 
from Manhattan, and yet they considered their 
business excellent. Dividends as high as forty 
per cent were declared by the French com- 
pany. Nevertheless, the establishment at Que- 
bec was supported in but niggardly fashion. 

189 • 



Champlain 

Trade, not the growth of a metropolis, was the 
company's object. There were still only about 
half a hundred persons in the little settlement. 
Despite Champlain 's efforts, the new build- 
ings were far from being as complete and 
well furnished as they should have been. Even 
provisions were at times low ; and during this 
winter of 1627-8 the Governor was compelled 
to dispense them very guardedly, pending new 
supplies from France. The post had now a 
little live stock, some cattle having been 
brought over; and Champlain established a 
small farm at Cape Tourmente, now Beaupre, 
about twenty-five miles down the river. 

In the mother country another change had 
come in the organization and management of 
the association. During recent years Riche- 
lieu had been slowly but steadily rising to 
power in the councils of the kingdom. His at- 
tention was attracted to Canada. His far- 
reaching eye perceived the importance to 
France of this infant colony. He succeeded 
Ventadour as Lieutenant-General and Vice- 
roy, and organized a new and stronger corpo- 
ration, which became known as the Company 
of the Hundred Associates. Its capital was 
$60,000. Its members were among the most 
prominent and wealthy men in France; and 
under Richelieu's sagacious and masterful 

190 



The Brewing of a Storm 

direction the rehabilitation of the colony on a 
large scale was promptly planned. The mon- 
opoly of the fur-trade was once more extended 
to include all New France, as in the time of 
Chauvin and of De Monts. Ships were fitted 
out forthwith to take over to Quebec abundance 
of the stores, tools, arms and ammunition of 
which the post stood so perilously in need. 

At the same time that this company was 
forming. King Charles I. of England was de- 
claring war against King Louis XIII. of 
France. 



14 191 



CHAPTER XIV 

DEFIANCE AND STARVATION 

1628-1629 

Early in July, 1628, six innocent-looking 
vessels lazily rounded the projecting point be- 
low Tadoussac, and came to temporary anchor 
in its harbor. 

They were of a slightly different build and 
rigging from that of the French vessels with 
which the Indians were familiar. But the sav- 
ages were not versed in these differences. A 
few of them at once paddled up to the farm 
at Cape Tourmente to bring word that ships 
from France had at last arrived ; and a couple 
of men immediately set out from the farm 
to convey the information to Champlain at 
Quebec. 

This was welcome news if true. But to 
Champlain, knowing nothing as yet of Riche- 
lieu's new corporation and of the fleet he had 
despatched with supplies and emigrants, six 
vessels seemed an extraordinarily large num- 
ber for the usual yearly provisioning and 

192 



Defiance and Starvation 

trading. There were certain otlier suspicious 
details about the report which set the wary 
Governor to thinking. He directed a young 
Greek, who acted as an Indian interpreter at 
the post, to disguise himself as a savage and 
to drop down the river on a reconnoitering trip 
with two of the natives.^ ^^They had hardly 
gone four or ^ve leagues,'^ writes Sagard, 
**when they caught sight of two canoes with 
savages paddling furiously toward them. The 
savages began to shout ^ Turn back, turn back ! 
Save yourselves ! The English are at Tadous- 
sac, and have sent up this morning and pil- 
laged and burned the farm at Cape Tour- 
mente!^ This was alarming enough, and it 
was confirmed by the sight of Foucher [the 
overseer at the farm] lying at full length in 
the bottom of one of the canoes, half dead 
from the rough treatment of the English/' 

Foucher, whose whiskers had been singed 
by the firing of a musket, but who in reality 
seems to have been as much scared as hurt, 
quickly revived on reaching the post. He 
excitedly informed Champlain that a bark, 
stealing up the river an hour or two before 
daylight, had landed fifteen or sixteen men at 

1 Sixte le Tac states that it was the RecoUet father, Le 
Caron, who attempted this trip with the Indians. Sagard says 
there Avere two Recollet priests. 

193 



Champlain 



Cape Tourmente. They had hoped to take 
the little farm community by surprise ; but ap- 
proaching, they found Foucher already astir. 
The latter demanded to know who they were 
and what they wanted. One of their number, 
a renegade Frenchman, responded : ^ ^ Why, we 
are friends of yours ; don 't you know us 1 We 
were here last year. We are bound to Quebec 
with news, and merely stepped off here to 
greet you on the way. ' ' 

Thus thrown otf their guard, the three men 
at the farm were easily surrounded and made 
prisoners, together with the wife of one of 
them and a little girl. The marauding party 
then killed most of the fifty or sixty head of 
cattle at the place, burned the buildings to 
the ground, and decamped, Foucher after 
capture contriving in some way to make his 
escape. 

This was certainly serious news. The six 
vessels at Tadoussac were not from France 
but from England, and had come with hos- 
tile intent. The news would have been less 
serious if the garrison at Quebec had been 
properly provisioned, and if the company had 
had the foresight to keep the fort on the cliff 
in some sort of repair. It would really have 
cost very little to make the great rock, with its 
fort above and the walled settlement at its 

194 



Defiance and Starvation 

base, almost or wholly impregnable to the 
naval artillery of that time. As it was, the 
place could offer no real defense. Neverthe- 
less, Champlain promptly set about arming 
and preparing to meet attack as best he could. 
Before the day was out, men had been assigned 
to fixed stations, muskets had been loaded, can- 
non trained down the river, and everything 
made ready for a stiff fight. 

At three o ^clock in the afternoon of the next 
day a shallop rounded the Isle of Orleans and 
crept into sight. Approaching, it hovered un- 
certainly about in the river, and Champlain 
sent some arquebusiers into the woods to re- 
pel any landing that might be attempted near 
the little convent of the priests or along the 
bank of the St. Charles. Finally the boat came 
on more boldly toward the landing place, and 
then it was seen to contain the prisoners taken 
at Cape Tourmente — two men, the woman, 
and the little girl — together with six Basques. 
The latter proved to be captives of the English, 
and had been sent up the river from Tadous- 
sac, unwilling envoys, to bring a letter from 
the commander of the fleet. 

The Governor assembled some of the leading 
men of the post, Pontgrave hobbling in to join 
the conclave, and the letter was read aloud. 
It was most polite in tone, and ran as follows : 

195 



Champlain 



* * Messieurs : I give you notice that I have 
received a commission from the King of Great 
Britain, my honored lord and master, to take 
possession of the countries of Canada and Aca- 
dia, and for that purpose eighteen ships have 
been despatched, each taking the route ordered 
by his Majesty. I have already seized the 
habitation at Miseare ^ and all boats and pin- 
naces on that coast, as well as those of Tadous- 
sac, where I am presently at anchor. You are 
also informed that among the vessels that I 
have seized there is one belonging to the new 
company, commanded by a certain Norot, 
which was coming to you with provisions and 
goods for the trade. The Sieur de la Tour was 
also on board, whom I have taken into my 
ship. I was preparing to seek you, but thought 
it better to send boats to destroy and seize 
your cattle at Cape Tourmente; for I know 
that when you are straitened for supplies, I 
shall the more easily obtain my desire, which 
is to have your settlement. And in order that 
no vessels shall reach you, I have resolved to 
remain here till the end of the season, in order 
that you may not be revictualled. 

* * Therefore see what you wish to do, if you 
intend to deliver up the settlement or not ; for, 

1 Or Miseou. a point on the St. Lawrence Gulf just south of 
the Bale des Chaleurs. 

196 



Defiance and Starvation 

God aiding, sooner or later I must have it. I 
would desire for your sake that it should be 
by courtesy rather than by force, to avoid the 
blood which might be spilt on both sides. By 
surrendering courteously, you may be assured 
of all kind of contentment, both for your per- 
son and for your property ; which, on the faith 
that I have in Paradise, I will preserve as I 
would my own, without the least portion in the 
world being diminished. 

^ * The Basques whom I send you are men of 
the vessels that I have captured, and they can 
tell you the state of affairs between France 
and England, and even how matters are pass- 
ing in France touching the new company of 
this country. 

* * Send me word what you desire to do ; and 
if you wish to treat with me about the affair, 
send me a person to that effect, whom, I as- 
sure you, I will treat with all kind of atten- 
tion ; and I will grant all reasonable demands 
that you may desire in resolving to give up the 
settlement. 

^^ Waiting your reply, I remain, messieurs, 
**Your affectionate servant, 

^^ David Quer [Kirke]. 

"On board the Vicaille, this 18th of July (old style), 
8th of July (new style). To Monsieur Champlain, 
Commandant at Quebec.*' 

197 



Champlain 



This Captain Kirke, with two of his broth- 
ers, had sailed with letters of marque from 
Charles I., under the auspices of a trans- 
atlantic trading company of England, which 
had been quick to take advantage of the op- 
portunities offered by the recently declared 
war between that country and France. His 
mission was thus both military and pred- 
atory. 

On reading the letter, Champlain and his 
friends concluded, as he humorously says, that 
if the captain wanted to see them near at hand, 
he had better come up, and not threaten from 
so far off. So the Governor indited an equally 
polite note in reply. He stated that he did not 
at all doubt the existence of the commission 
which Captain Kirke had obtained from the 
King of Great Britain, as great princes always 
choose men of brave and generous courage. 
He acknowledged word of the capture of Norot 
and of the Sieur de la Tour. He admitted the 
truth of the observation that the better a fort 
was provisioned the better it could hold out, 
though he felt that it could nevertheless be 
maintained with little, provided order was ob- 
served. Having, he said, abundance of Indian 
corn, grain, peas, and beans, besides what the 
country afforded, and feeling that to give up 
the fort while in such excellent condition would 

198 



Defiance and Starvation 

render him and his force unworthy of appear- 
ing before his king and deserving of stern pun- 
ishment from God and man, he was sure that 
Captain Kirke would respect his courage much 
more if he should firmly defend himself and at 
least make trial of the English batteries. * ' We 
will await you from hour to hour/' he ur- 
banely concluded, ^ * and shall endeavor if pos- 
sible to nullify the claim which you have made 
over these places. Upon which, I remain, 
monsieur, your affectionate servant, Cham- 
plain. ' ' 

The English comm^ander must have felt a 
certain grim amusement at the neatly veiled 
irony in Champlain's letter; but he failed to 
recognize it for the huge ' ' bluff ' ' that it was. 
At the time when it was penned there were 
precisely fifty pounds of powder in the maga- 
zine at Quebec — and poor at that — with al- 
most no tinder ; and the men were on rations of 
seven ounces of peas a day! Kirke did not 
guess this ; and the defiant garrison awaited 
him ' ' from hour to hour ' ' in vain. He decided 
that the great rock was for the present better 
left unassailed. 

He did not, however, propose to sail for 
home without striking further vigorous blows 
somewhere. He turned his fleet down the 
river, keeping a vigilant outlook. As they 

199 



Champlain 



rounded the promontory of Gaspe, his search 
was rewarded. 

A flotilla of no less than seventeen or eight- 
een French vessels was beating up the Gulf 
toward the mouth of the St. Lawrence. Thir- 
teen or fourteen of these — the figures are 
Sagard's — were transports and cargo-ships, 
bringing colonists, workmen, priests and sol- 
diers, even women and children, and loaded 
deeply with supplies, clothing, arms and am- 
munition, including about a hundred and 
thirty-five cannon stowed away in the holds. 
They were convoyed by four small war-ves- 
sels, under command of the Admiral De Roque- 
mont. 

Here was indeed opportunity for a rich 
haul. Kirke promptly bore down upon the 
fleet. The French admiral was in a tight 
place. He seems not to have been proceeding 
with the caution that he should have used. 
Champlain sharply criticizes him for this. 
His mission being not to fight, but to deliver 
his emigrants and goods in safety, he should 
have observed every precaution in order to 
keep out of the sight of an enemy. It was too 
late now. He refused a summons to surren- 
der, and the battle was at once joined. 

It was, according to Sagard, a long and des- 
perate one. It lasted for fourteen or fifteen 

200 



Defiance and Starvation 

hours, and twelve hundred broadsides were 
fired. Kirke, rounding under the stem of the 
French flagship, grappled and finally suc- 
ceeded in boarding her ; the French resisted, 
but the English were soon masters of the ship. 
Kirke 's two brothers, each in command of an 
English vessel, overcame two other French 
cruisers, and finally the rest of the fleet sur- 
rendered at discretion. 

The very extent of Kirke 's victory was an 
embarrassment to him. It was utterly im- 
possible to hold or man so many prizes. Ten of 
the ships he burned, after removing their pas- 
sengers and cargoes ; two he despatched back 
to France with the emigrants ; and the rest he 
decided to convoy to England, with the French 
admiral and other officers of the expedition as 
prisoners of war. Kirke made a stop at Gaspe 
to destroy a store of grain cached there by 
some Jesuits priests, and then made his trium- 
phant way back to his own country. He and 
his brothers had not indeed captured Quebec ; 
but their privateering enterprise had utterly 
crippled that post, and had enriched their own 
commercial company at home with a large 
amount of valuable booty. 

The settlers at Quebec did not learn the de- 
tails of this naval fight until a twelvemonth 
later. A few days after it had taken place a 

201 



Champlain 



\ 



long-boat reached Quebec, sent ahead by De 
Roquemont before he had seen the English, to 
carry news of his coming. In it was one 
Thierry Desdames, with ten other men. They 
had succeeded in slipping by the English ves- 
sels, but they reported that they had after- 
ward heard heavy firing. Their news was not 
calculated to cheer, and their own coming only 
meant, as the Governor ruefully remarks, 
eleven more mouths to eat his peas. 

The colony might well look forward to the 
winter with alarm. No supply-ships had come 
to them for more than a year. Of four expedi- 
tions which had been sent out, that spring and 
summer, from France to Quebec, all had mis- 
carried. Already the nip of hunger had be^ 
gun to be felt, and there were ten or twelve 
long months to come before communications 
were likely again to reach them from the out- 
side world. Nevertheless, Champlain and 
Pontgrav6 rose to the occasion with cheerful 
calm. ''We ate our peas by count, ^* the Gov- 
ernor says. Every square foot of sown 
ground was sedulously cared for, every va- 
riety of root in the woods tested to see if it was 
edible. The men did what fishing they could, 
from time to time, but they had almost no 
hooks or lines. The Indians sold them eels, 
though at high prices; and occasionally 

202 



Defiance and Starvation 

brought in some moose-meat. Champlain de- 
vised a means of crushing the peas and redu- 
cing them to a flour, of which they could make 
a meager but nourishing soup. Autumn and 
winter wore wearily on ; the men and the few 
women and children in the little band growing 
thinner and weaker, but always contriving to 
eke out a subsistence in one way or another. 

The spring of 1629 came and passed, with 
still no word from outside. Champlain grew 
more and more anxious. The colonists were 
living on nothing but roots now. His active 
brain devised several desperate plans for re- 
lief. One plan was to lead a war-party of Al- 
gonquins against the Iroquois, capture one of 
their villages which were always stored with 
corn, and there entrench himself and his fol- 
lowers for a new winter. Another was to refit 
the sole and unseaworthy bark which was at 
the post, and send some of his people down the 
river and out beyond the Gulf to fall in with 
any of the French or Basque fishing-fleet and 
thus secure passage home — the bark to return 
to Quebec for another load. Still another plan 
was to seek some friendly native chief and 
induce him to take a part of the men and 
women to winter with his tribe in the wilder- 
ness. 

On May 17, Thierry Desdames, with a few 

203 



Champlain 



other men, was despatched in a shallop to 
make his way down to Gasp6 to see if there 
was word from the savages of that region as 
to any French or even English vessels. Ves- 
sels of any nationality would be more than 
welcome. A canoe was later sent as far as 
Tadoussac on the same errand. The latter re- 
turned first, with no news. The shallop came 
in about June 15, also with no news, save 
that some savages had told Desdames of a 
rumor they had heard, that English ships had 
been seen off the coast of Acadia. These sav- 
ages sent a friendly message to Pontgrav^, 
their beloved old trading acquaintance, to the 
effect that if he cared to spend the fall and 
winter with them, bringing some twenty of his 
companions, they would do all in their power 
to make him comfortable. 

The veteran St. Malo navigator was in these 
days nearly helpless with gout. Four men 
were sometimes required to lift or move him. 
There is something pathetic in this picture of 
the old captain's age and infirmity. He was 
as brave and as impulsive as ever, and wanted 
to join the adventurous party which, in the 
bark, was to seek the ships on the Banks ; tak- 
ing his little grandson with him. Champlain 
affectionately remonstrated, representing the 
danger of such a journey for one so helpless 

204 



Defiance and Starvation 

as was Pontgrave; and the latter was dis- 
suaded. 

Eustache Boulle,Champlain's brother-in-law 
and lieutenant, who had been with him during 
all these trying times at Quebec, and who 
had proved himself an able and trustworthy 
adjutant, set out with twenty-nine men in the 
bark on June 26. Twenty of these men, in- 
cluding Foucher and Desdames, had decided 
to go only as far as Gasp^, and to winter there 
with the Indians; while Boulle and the re- 
maining nine were to seek aid from the cod- 
fishing fleet, or to try to cross the ocean in their 
own frail craft. Champlain and the rest of 
the colonists stayed by the post. The crops 
had of course not yet ripened; and the men 
were daily making laborious journeys fifteen 
and twenty miles into the woods to hunt for 
the sparse roots, such as Solomon 's seal, which 
barely sustained their lives. The Governor's 
kind heart, wrung by the suffering around 
him, was touched most of all by the wailing of 
the few children in the settlement, who were 
crying with hunger and appealing vainly to 
their helpless mothers. 

^ ^ Nevertheless, ' ' writes Champlain, ^ ^ I was 
patient, having always good courage, . . . 
and can say with truth that I aided every one 
to the utmost that was in my power. ' ' 

205 



CHAPTER XV 

THE CAPTURE OF QUEBEC 

1629-1G33 

In the early forenoon of July 19, 1629, 
Champlain was alone in the fort. Some of his 
companions had gone fishing ; others, with his 
body-servant and with two young Indian girls 
whom Champlain was educating, were away 
digging roots. At ten o 'clock the latter party 
returned. The Governor 's servant was bring- 
ing four small bags of roots ; but he was also 
bringing some exciting news. An English 
man-of-war and two gunboats were approach- 
ing Point Levi, across the river. 

Champlain immediately assembled all who 
were within call, and told them what he had 
heard. It was now so manifestly impossible 
to make defense that there was but one opin- 
ion as to the necessity of surrender. The 
Governor resolved, however, to insist on good 
terms or otherwise to make at least a show of 
fighting. 

In a little while, a small boat displaying 

206 



The Capture of Quebec 

a flag of truce was seen making its way 
from around the point and coming across 
the river. Champlain promptly displayed a 
similar flag on the fort ; and the boat came up 
to the landing-place. A young English officer 
stepped ashore. Being conducted into the 
Governor's presence, he saluted, and pre- 
sented a letter from the two brothers of Cap- 
tain David Kirke, who was now again at Ta- 
doussac, and who had once more sent to de- 
mand courteously the surrender of Quebec. 

Champlain and Pontgrave in reply agreed 
to consider the proposition, provided terms 
could be agreed on ; advising the English fleet 
meanwhile not to come within cannon-shot. 

During the day the proposed terms were 
drawn up by Champlain, and in the evening 
a paper embodying them was sent out to the 
English commanders. 

The Governor, in brief, asked for a vessel 
to convey the colonists to France, with their 
arms, baggage and personal possessions ; for 
provisions, in exchange for furs; and for 
favorable treatment of all persons in the post. 

The Kirkes, in reply, sent word that they 
could not grant a vessel; but agreed to give 
the colonists passage to England and thence to 
France. They also agreed to allow the officials 
of the post to retain arms, clothing, baggage 
15 207 



Champlain 



and furs belonging to them personally; to 
allow the soldiers and workmen their cloth- 
ing and a beaver-coat each; and the priests, 
their robes and books. 

As some of the men had a large number of 
furs for which they had traded on their own 
account, there was at first some vigorous oppo- 
sition to the Kirkes's ultimatum; but Cham- 
plain authoritatively overruled it, as there 
was clearly no alternative to a surrender. The 
terms were accepted ; and on the next day, July 
20, 1629, Quebec was handed over to the 
English. The three war-vessels anchored in 
front of the post, and Captain Louis Kirke, 
David ^s brother, landing with a hundred and 
fifty men, formally took possession of the set- 
tlement and the fort in the name of His Maj- 
esty King Charles I. 

The English behaved with the utmost civil- 
ity. It was a singularly courteous military 
transaction throughout. Captain Louis was 
half a Frenchman himself, his Scotch father 
Gervase having married Elizabeth Goudon of 
Dieppe; and he took more pleasure, Cham- 
plain says, in the society of the French than 
in that of his own countrymen. He urged any 
families who desired it to continue to live in 
the settlement; and Champlain advised them 
to do so, at least until after harvest. 

208 



The Capture of Quebec 

Kirke obligingly signed an inventory of all 
the articles in the post. *'As to a list of 
provisions, ' ' the Englishman remarked, hand- 
ing the inventory to Champlain with a smile, 
^'I see it will require us to waste neither ink 
nor paper. I can't say we are sorry, for it is 
a pleasure to furnish you with provisions of 



our own. ' ' 



^^ Thank you very much,'' replied Cham- 
plain a little ironically ; * ' but you are making 
us pay pretty dearly for them, and without 
our being able to dispute the bill ! ' ' 

The ex-Governor, left without duties or au- 
thority, grew restless; the hours, as he says, 
seemed like days, and he obtained permission 
to leave in the man-of-war, which, under com- 
mand of the third Kirke brother, Thomas, was 
about to return to Tadoussac, to report to 
David Kirke. Pontgrav^, with most of the 
others, including the priests, decided not to 
leave till a little later. On July 24, four days 
after the surrender, Champlain took his de- 
parture from the little settlement which he had 
founded twenty-one years before, grieved at 
seeing it in the hands of another nation, but 
determined to regain it in the end for France. 

The vessel had gone but seventy-five miles 
down the St. Lawrence when a French ship 
came into sight, beating up the stream along 

209 



Champlain 



the north bank. It proved to belong to the 
De Caens, and Captain Emery de Caen was 
in command. A sharp combat was at once 
joined. Captain Emery fought aggressively, 
and he might have won the day had it not been 
that his Huguenots would not fight their Eng- 
lish coreligionists with their usual vigor, and 
that the two English gunboats coming down 
the river from Quebec appeared opportunely 
or inopportunely on the scene. As it was, the 
Frenchman surrendered, and Kirke contin- 
ued on in triumph with his prize to Tadoussac. 
At that place still other prisoners were found, 
Boulle and his boatload of men having been 
intercepted on their way to Gaspe and the 
Banks. 

Champlain was civilly received by Captain 
David Kirke, the oldest of the brothers and 
the admiral of the fleet. Under his orders 
were five large war-ships of three and four 
hundred tons, well armed and officered — a 
formidable squadron. There was a report, 
the truth of which was insisted on by Captain 
Emery de Caen, that peace had been declared 
between England and France, but there was 
no official confirmation of this report, and 
the Kirkes were by no means overanxious to 
credit it. 

Champlain found the admiral rather less 

210 



The Capture of Quebec 

amiable than was his brother Louis, and the 
two had a few differences of opinion. Tlie 
ex-Governor was, however, personally well 
treated, and he and the admiral were so far 
friendly as often to go hunting together, re- 
turning with goodly bags of game. Kirke 
made a trip to Quebec, taking up winter sup- 
plies to Louis, who was to command the gar- 
rison ; and finally, at the beginning of fall, the 
English ships, with Champlain and other 
Frenchmen on board, sailed for home. 

At Dover, where they arrived on October 
27, most of the passengers were set ashore, 
with liberty to proceed to France. Champlain 
preferred to go to London, to have an imme- 
diate interview with the French ambassador; 
and the vessels sailed up the Thames and 
dropped anchor at Gravesend. 

It was Champlain ^s first visit to England, 
and he must have felt no little interest in the 
great, dingy, bustling metropolis, so different 
as well from the French capital, with which he 
was familiar, as from the lonely frontier post 
where he had spent these recent months of ex- 
ile and starvation. He found that the rumor 
of peace was true; a treaty had been signed 
on April 24, and all conquests made after 
that date by either side were to be restored. 

This clause gave especial significance to 

211 



Champlain 



Champlain 's successful defiance of tlie Kirkes 
the year before. Had the Governor written in 
a less independent yet polite tone, had he so 
worded his letter as to betray his weakness on 
the one hand, or to rouse the rather quick ire 
of the English admiral on the other, it is be- 
yond doubt that Kirke would have made his 
attack in that year (1628), in which case the 
captured place would not have been in the list 
of the conquests to be restored. England, in 
a subsequent treaty, extended this list to in- 
clude all places captured before as well as 
after the signing of peace ; but if so important 
a post as Quebec had been in question, instead 
of merely Tadoussac and one or two Gulf 
fishing-stations and Acadian hamlets, she 
might not have yielded this point. In such a 
case, France might never have regained her 
hold in the New World. La Salle would not 
have made his voyage down the Mississippi, 
and the limitless hinterland of Louisiana 
would not have been claimed for the crown of 
France. There would have been no heroic 
battle on the Plains of Abraham. The course 
of American and even of French history might 
have run very differently. 

Champlain remained in London for ^ve 
weeks, in consultation with the French ambas- 
sador, M. de Chateauneuf, preparing memo- 

212 



The Capture of Quebec 

randa and reports, and awaiting official com- 
munications from France. He handed to the 
ambassador the original agreement of capitu- 
lation, and offered for his use a large map of 
New France, which years of travel and inves- 
tigation had enabled the explorer to construct 
with much fulness of detail. M. Chateauneuf 
had audience of King Charles, and obtained 
a promise that Quebec should be restored to 
France. 

There is a hint in one of the English state 
papers of Champlain^s having been detained 
in England for ransom; but this demand, if 
made, was evidently not pressed, and he pres- 
ently departed for Paris, carrying despatches 
from the ambassador to Cardinal Richelieu. 
He left London on November 30, and crossing 
by way of Rye and Dieppe, and making a 
two-days' stay in Rouen, arrived in Paris 
early in December. Here he reported himself 
to the king and the cardinal, and also ap- 
peared before a meeting of the Hundred As- 
sociates, informing them in detail of all that 
had occurred on the other side of the water. 
The king immediately sent letters to London, 
reinforcing Champlain's claim for the resti- 
tution of the French settlements. 

Charles renewed his promises. But he seems 
to have had no immediate intention of carry- 

213 



Champlain 

ing them into effect. Trade was good at Que- 
bec, and he was willing that the English com- 
pany should profit by it as long as possible. 
That company would suffer loss enough when 
restitution should take place, as all its expen- 
sive naval outfitting for the year would go for 
little or nothing; and Charles had no money 
in the royal treasury to reimburse its stock- 
holders. He was therefore quite inclined to 
favor their trading privileges as long as he 
could. Moreover, the English king had mar- 
ried Princess Henrietta Maria, sister of the 
King of France ; and of the agreed dowry of 
about $480,000, only half had so far been paid 
by the French Government. This was a good 
time to * ^ squeeze ' ^ for the remainder. Charles, 
whose Government was obstinately withhold- 
ing the royal funds, was anxious to collect this 
little debt; and he instructed his ambassador 
in Paris, Sir Isaac Wake, not to cede back 
Quebec until payment of the dowry should 
have been made in full. Louis and Cardinal 
Richelieu at this time were engaged in a brief 
but important little war in Italy, over a ques- 
tion of succession to the Duchy of Mantua; 
and this was followed by a sharp civil strife 
in Languedoc. They were thus too much en- 
grossed for a while to give much attention to 
Canadian questions. 

214 



The Capture of Quebec 

It is in fact averred by Leclercq and one or 
two other writers that there was more or less 
question in France as to whether Canada was 
worth claiming or not. The anti-expansion- 
ists contended that the colony amounted to 
nothing, that this transatlantic venture had 
caused heavy losses to every individual who 
had put money into it, and that adequately 
to people such vast territories would be to de- 
people France. But these views did not carry 
the day. There was a national pride in for- 
cing the restitution of national territory; the 
sacrifice and energy which had opened up a 
new country could not be allowed to go for 
nothing; and the possibilities of wealth from 
that country's fisheries, commerce and mines 
were unquestionably large. Richelieu himself 
took a personal interest in the question, as it 
was a company under his own presidency 
which held the Canada concession ; and he did 
not dream of relinquishing its claim. 

But diplomatic processes are very slow. 
Amid much official correspondence and the 
preparing of innumerable depositions, affi- 
davits, inventories and other formidable State 
papers in both countries, the years 1630 and 
1631 slipped by without result. Champlain 
was in Paris, active in all the negotiations, 
and probably occupied also with preparing a 

215 



Champlain 



final edition of his writings. The revised 
edition of his Voyages was brought out in 
1632. It gives in condensed form the sub- 
stance of the narratives of 1603, 1613 and 1619, 
and supplements them with an extended 
history of the events which had taken place on 
the St. Lawrence subsequent to the last-named 
date. Included in the work is a Treatise on 
Navigation. Without Champlain 's copious 
and truthful journals the historian of early 
Canada would be sadly at a loss at many 
points. Writing in the old transition French 
of the period, his style, at times a little care- 
less or hurried, is always simple, and his state- 
ments of fact are full and clear. His works, 
as since republished in the complete Laval 
edition, fill six quarto volumes, comprising 
1,400 pages, a total which represents a very 
considerable literary industry. 

It has been believed by some authorities, 
such as Laverdi^re and Harrisse, that this 
final edition of 1632 was edited by some hand 
other than Champlain 's own. 

From 1629 until 1632 Louis Kirke and his 
English garrison continued to occupy Quebec. 
They did not at first fare very well in point of 
health, being unused to the rigors of the 
climate. Out of the ninety Englishmen in 
the fort, fourteen, according to Champlain, 

216 



The Capture of Quebec 

died during the first winter, and another 
writer puts the number of deaths as high as 
forty. Kirke as Governor had to deal with 
a plot against his life, as Champlain had had 
to do during his first sojourn in the place. 
Mme. Hubert, whose husband had died, and 
who had subsequently married one Guillaume 
Hubou, continued to live in her home on the 
hill, with her son-in-law and daughter, Guil- 
laume and Guillemette Couillard, and their 
three children, and probably her young son 
Guillaume. 

The Abb^ Faillon, following Le Jeune, 
states that this was the only French family 
that remained at Quebec after its capture by 
the English. But this is manifestly an error. 
According to recent exhaustive genealogical 
researches relating to this period,^ it appears 
that at least thirty persons of the French col- 
ony remained in Canada during the English 
occupation. These were Guillaume Hubou, 
with his wife (the widow Hebert), and her 
child ; Guillaume Couillard, with his wife Guil- 
lemette, nee Hebert, and three children ; Abra- 
ham Martin, an old Scotch pilot, with his 
wife and four children; Nicolas Pivert, with 
his wife Marguerite, nee Le Page, their little 

* Vide Pages d'llisioire au Canada, by Benjamin Suite. 

217 



Champlain 



niece and a young lad ; Pierre Desportes, with 
his wife Frangoise, nee Langlois, and daugh- 
ter Helene, who was born in Quebec, and who, 
some years after its restoration to France, 
married Guillaume Hubert ; Adrien Duchesne, 
a surgeon, with his wife ; and the interpreters 
and coureurs de hois, Nicolas Marsolet (styled 
the Sieur de St. Agnan), Etienne Brul^, 
Jacques Hertel, Jean Nicollet, Jean Godefroy, 
Thomas Godefroy, and Frangois Marguerie. 
Besides these, there were a few Frenchmen 
who came with the English : Le Baillif , Gros- 
Jean, Pierre Raye, and Jacques Couillard 
(known as the Sieur de PEpinay) ; and two 
others, Froidemouche and Le Cocq ( a carpen- 
ter), whom the English had captured from De 
Caen and had retained as workmen. 

Of the seven interpreters, several left the 
post and lived with the Indians while the Eng- 
lish were in possession. 

Among the persons who went back to 
France, fiwe — Champlain himself. Thierry 
Desdames, Robert Giifard, Olivier le Tardif, 
and Jean Paul Godefroy — returned after- 
ward to Canada. Le Tardif and Godefroy 
were interpreters. Robert GifPard, after his 
return, was granted a tract of land in Beau- 
port, where he built a stone manor-house and 
was the first of a number who founded what 

218 



The Capture of Quebec 

were virtually feudal seigniories in that sec- 
tion. 

Among all these settlers, the Hubert family 
is regarded as the patriarchal stock of French 
Canada. Louis Hebert was a Paris apothe- 
cary. He had been with Baron Poitrincourt, 
Champlain and Lescarbot in Port Royal, 
where he had experimented in agriculture. 
He had returned to France, and in 1617 Cham- 
plain had persuaded him to come with his 
family to Quebec. This was the first French 
family to make a home in the place. Hubert 
obtained ten acres of land on the summit of 
the cliff, occupied to-day by that part of the 
Upper Town which stretches from the ancient 
Bishop 's Palace to the Rue des Pauvres ; and 
here he built himself a substantial home, and 
devoted himself sedulously to farming. He 
died from the effects of a fall in 1627. Fer- 
land says that there are few families in Cana- 
da at all ancient who can not trace their descent 
through one or other of their ancestors to 
Louis Hebert. Father Leclercq, writing less 
than eighty years after Hubert's death, re- 
marked that the posterity of one daughter of 
the old settler, Guillemette, who was married 
to Guillaume Couillard,i had become so nu- 

1 This, the first wedding ceremony in Quebec, was performed 
by Father Jamay on August 21, 1621. Two and a half months 

219 



Champlain 



merous that it counted more than two hundred 
and fifty members; and that to this family 
were related over nine hundred persons. One 
of Couillard's grandsons obtained a patent of 
nobilitv for himself and his descendants ; and 
many others of the Hebert family have become 
prominent through valuable services rendered 
both to New and to Old France. 

While the English were still holding Que- 
bec, postponing execution of the promise to 
return it to its owners, the Company of the 
Hundred Associates in France projected 
several expeditions, which came to little. In 
1631, Emery de Caen, who had been released 
by the British after his capture, and who, with 
his uncle, still maintained a claim on the Cana- 
dian trade, again made his appearance on the 
St. Lawrence with a vessel bringing merchan- 
dise for barter. He demanded restitution of 
the post at Quebec. The English requested to 
see the commission of their king ordering evac- 
uation. This De Caen could not produce, and 
his demand was consequently refused. He 
was civilly given permission to remain in the 
river and have a share in the year 's commerce ; 
but later, owing to the small number of In- 

before, on May 12, had been performed the first wedding cere- 
mony in Plymouth, Susannah White having been married to 
Edward Winslow. 

220 



The Capture of Quebec 

dians who appeared with furs that summer, 
this permission was revoked, Louis Kirke ex- 
plaining that there was scarcely enough busi- 
ness for the English alone. A guard was put 
on De Caen's vessel to prevent trade, and was 
kept there till the Indians had departed. 

Meanwhile, Richelieu was mobilizing a war- 
fleet of six vessels, to be under the command of 
one Isaac de Razilly. The English Govern- 
ment remonstrated, and the fleet did not sail ; 
but this incident had the effect of quickening 
the negotiations, which was perhaps all that 
the cardinal desired. 

Finally, on March 29, 1632, a definitive 
treaty was signed at St. Germain-en-Laye by 
representatives of the two monarchs, and 
Quebec and all other points in Canada and 
Acadia formerly in the possession of the 
French were retroceded by England to Prance. 
On July 5, Captain Emery de Caen again ap- 
peared before Quebec, armed this time with a 
commission; and he received from Captain 
Kirke possession of the fort. Quebec, the key 
to Canada, was once more in the hands of the 
French. 

De Caen held authority from King Louis 
to monopolize the traffic for one year, in re- 
coupment of personal losses which he and his 
uncle, William de Caen, had sustained ; after 

221 



Champlain 



which the Hundred Associates were again to 
resume their rights. In the following spring, 
1633, Champlain, who had been recommis- 
sioned as Governor, set sail from Dieppe 
on March 23 with three vessels, the St. 
Pierre, the St. Jean and the Don de Dieu, well 
freighted with goods, provisions and arms, 
and taking out two hundred persons for the 
colony. There would be no more digging in 
the woods for roots to eat; no more counting 
of peas ; no more saving of powder and tin- 
der. The Governor must have felt a deep 
exultation as he paced the deck of his vessel. 
His life-work was not, after all, to go for 
naught; New France was New France still, 
and now at last, under the great cardinal and 
the again reorganized company, there was 
assurance of prosperity and progress. 

Bound again for Canada were the two Jesuit 
fathers, Mass^ and Brebeuf; and others of 
their order were to follow them. The Recol- 
lets, despite their desire, were not to be per- 
mitted to return. Nor were Protestants of 
any kind, lay or cleric, to be allowed to settle 
in the colony. Henceforth for many years the 
control of religious life and missions in Cana- 
da was to be exclusively in the hands of the 
astute and powerful brotherhood of Loyola. 



000 



Restitution and Renovation 

It is probable that Pontgrave was no longer 
living, for no further allusion to him is 
made by contemporary chronicles. The Gov- 
ernor must have sorely missed his lifelong 
friend. But Champlain himself was now 
showing signs of age. He was about sixty- 
six years old. All his life he had drawn heav- 
ily on his bodily vigor and endurance. Fe- 
vered by the West Indian sun, and frozen by 
the icy cold of Acadian and Canadian winters ; 
buffeted by storms at sea, wounded in Indian 
warfare, injured by a falling horse, lost for 
days in the forest near Lake Ontario, and 
nearly starved in Quebec — it is a wonder that 
his health should so long have defied the as- 
saults made upon it. A portrait picturing him 
at about this period shows the striking changes 
made by time since the date of his marriage, 
twenty-three years before.^ 

With the years he had grown more and 
more religious; a great part of his time was 
now given to devotional readings, to medita- 
tion and confession, and to churchly cere- 
monies. His active life was rounded out ; for 
him there were to be no more explorations, no 
more campaigns, nor even any more voyages 
across the rough Atlantic. Here, in his be- 

1 Compare with frontispiece. 

225 



Champlain 



loved and recovered Quebec, lie might set Ms 
house in order and peacefully live out his clos- 
ing days. 

Nevertheless, he was not to be idle. There 
was more than sufficient on the St. Lawrence 
to occupy his time and to call for his wise di- 
rection. There was repairing and rebuilding 
to be done, and he set workmen at this 
immediately. He did not again take up his 
residence on the river bank, deciding to live 
in the fort on the cliff above. There was much 
to do in the matter of holding councils with the 
Indians and confirming their allegiance. The 
English had treated the savages with much 
more brusqueness and even harshness than 
the genial French had ever thought of using. 
The Indians, first astonished, then angered, 
had gradually ceased coming to the post. The 
fur-trade had itself suffered by this with- 
drawal of confidence. The only way by which 
the savages had been induced to visit and 
barter was by the sale of bad fire-water; and 
this had been recklessly dispensed, with de- 
moralizing and sometimes highly indecorous 
results. 

When, however, the Indians learned that 
their beloved Governor was coming back, joy 
spread through native circles, from the Sague- 
nay to the Ottawa, and to the far-off country 

226 



Restitution and Renovation 

of the Hurons. No less than seven hundred 
of the latter nation planned to come to Quebec 
to salute him. Eighteen Algonquin canoes 
had already appeared on the scene from the 
Ottawa at the time of his arrival. The Mon- 
tagnais likewise came flocking back. 

As the English had not all left the river it 
was important to take measures to confine the 
Indian trade to the French ; and a grand coun- 
cil with the Ottawas and Montagnais was 
shortly held. Pipes were smoked, presents 
exchanged, and Champlain made a speech, 
through Olivier de Tardif, the interpreter, ex- 
plaining that the French were the rightful oc- 
cupants of the country, the English being only 
usurpers and temporary visitors ; and that the 
old friendship between the Indians and the 
French required that trading should be done 
only with the latter. The Indians were in the 
most cordial of moods, and agreed heartily. 
*^You are always the same,'' said a chief to 
Champlain after the meeting; '^you have al- 
ways something agreeable to say to put us in 
good humor.'' 

To anticipate the arrival of the expected 
Hurons, the Governor shrewdly established a 
place for traffic at an island opposite St. Croix 
Point, near the mouth of the Richelieu. Here 
business might be carried on without inter- 

227, 



Champlain 






ference from the English farther down the St. 
Lawrence. 

On the last day of May Champlain sent an 
armed shallop from this new post to meet the 
expected Huron flotilla at the Riviere des 
Prairies and to escort it down. Hardly had 
the boat set forth, when a Montagnais Indian 
hurried in alarm to his Jesuit friends in 
Quebec to tell them that one of his compan- 
ions had in a dream seen some Frenchmen 
massacred. The Indians placed implicit faith 
in dreams. As it happened, this one came 
true, for, two days afterward, a canoe arrived 
with sad news. The party in the shallop, 
putting in shore, had been surprised by a 
marauding band of Iroquois, and a flight of 
arrows had killed two of the Frenchmen (who 
were promptly scalped), and had wounded 
four others, one of whom afterward died. 

A pleasing incident occurred a little later 
at the fort. Some Nipissings who had not be- 
fore been in Quebec were wandering open-eyed 
about the enclosure. One of them wonder- 
ingly watching a small French lad who was 
drumming with sticks on an empty box, 
crowded too close, and the boy raised one of 
his sticks and hit him on the head, drawing 
blood. The savages at once raised an outcry. 
Through the interpreter they demanded pres- 

228 



Restitution and Renovation 

ents to appease the injured one, according to 
Indian custom. They were told that the 
French custom was to punish the offender, 
and that the child should have a whipping in 
their presence. The Indians rarely or never 
punished children, and the Nipissings were 
among the mildest of the native races. When 
a birch rod was produced, and the boy was 
ordered to take off his coat, the savages vigor- 
ously remonstrated. They begged the French- 
men to pardon him, saying that he was only a 
child and did not know what he was doing. 
No attention was paid to this, and the men 
prepared to go on with the punishment ; when 
one of the Nipissings, stepping forward, 
pulled off his cloak and threw it over the lad's 
shoulders, exclaiming, ' ' Strike me, then ; but 
not the little one ! ' ' 

In the autumn Champlain commenced the 
erection of a small church near the fort. This 
was in pursuance of a vow which he had made 
to build such a structure in the event of the 
recovery of Quebec from its foreign captors. 
The spot chosen is generally stated to have 
been that now occupied by the apse of the 
English Cathedral, though some authorities 
hold that it was where the Roman Catholic 
Cathedral stands. This, the first parochial 
church of Quebec, was completed by the end 

229 



Champlain 



of the fall, and consecrated on December 8, 
under the appropriate name of Notre Dame de 
Recouvrance. 

About this time Champlain also established 
the custom, so long and religiously preserved 
in Quebec, of ringing the Angelus three times 
a day. 

It was a small community, this of Quebec, 
in the winter of 1633-^, but it was a hopeful 
one. The prospects of growth and betterment 
were excellent. The population of the little 
settlement was curiously mixed. Officers and 
priests, traders and Indians, laborers, farmers 
and coureurs de hois passed up and down the 
steep roadway that led from the warehouses 
and rough wooden tenements by the river, to 
the fort, dwellings and church high above ; or 
might be seen, pausing to talk in idle groups 
*4n the narrow street beneath the precipice 
whenever the wintry sun gave more than its 
usual warmth at midday. ' ' 

In the summer of the following year, 1634, 
Champlain sent a party to establish a perma- 
nent settlement and fort at Three Rivers, and 
this was begun on July 4. Later in the 
month the Governor himself made a visit of 
inspection to the place, returning August 3. 
Three Rivers had long been a rendezvous for 
trading, and had always been one of Pont- 

230 



Restitution and Renovation 

grave's favorite spots. The Recollets had 
had a summer mission there. The new settle- 
ment in time grew into an important com- 
munity. 

Champlain also succeeded, this summer, in 
inducing the Hurons to take some Jesuit 
priests with them to their own country, to 
reestablish a mission there. He had tried 
the year before to persuade them to do this, 
but unsuccessfully. Fathers Br6beuf, Daniel 
and Davost departed for this dangerous mis- 
sion-field, where one of them, Br^beuf, was 
later to perish by the hands of the Iroquois 
in excruciating torment. Jesuits also settled 
in other places. Fathers Le Jeune and Bu- 
teaux going to Three Rivers; and thus the 
wide-reaching work of the Loyolists, begun 
in 1625 and interrupted in 1629, was now 
again renewed, and was destined to be pushed 
to great accomplishment, as well in explora- 
tion as in proselytizing. 

The stalwart Br^beuf and his companions 
made their headquarters among the Hurons 
at Ihonatiria ( Champlain 's Carhagouha), 
where the missionaries, aided by the Indians, 
put up a rough dwelling, thirty-six feet by 
twenty-one, divided into a sleeping-room, re- 
fectory, kitchen, bakery and chapel. The In- 
dians, many of whom had never seen such an 

231 



Champlain 



elaborate structure before, flocked from all 
quarters to view it. They would linger around 
for hours, often to the great inconvenience of 
the fathers, admiring everything unstintedly, 
from kitchen utensils to mirrors and books 
and chapel ornaments. Especially were they 
fascinated with the clock. They poetically 
called it the captain of the day, as marshaling 
the hours and audibly commanding them. 

**When our clock strikes, '' writes Father 
Br^beuf, in his Relation of 1635, ^Hhey say 
that it speaks. When they come to see it, they 
ask how many times the captain of the day 
has already spoken. They even want to know 
what it eats. ' ^ They believed that it heard as 
well as spoke ; for sometimes, just on the last 
stroke of the hour, the Frenchmen would 
call out in jest, * ^ Be silent ! ' ' and the wonder- 
ing visitors observed that it did not strike 
again. * ^ They hang about for an entire hour, 
or even several hours, ' ^ goes on Br^beuf , ^ ^ in 
order to hear it speak. They asked in the be- 
ginning what it said,'' he adds humorously; 
*^and we told them it said two things, which 
they have remembered ever since. One was 
that when it struck four, of a winter afternoon, 
it said, *Move on, clear out, let us shut the 
door ! ' and they always get up and leave at that 
time. The other was at twelve, when it said, 

232 



Restitution and Renovation 

'Come, start the kettle!' And they have re- 
membered this still better, for some of these 
sponges (ecornifleurs) never fail to come at 
that hour to share our corn-porridge. ' ' 

Another event of this summer of 1634 was 
the departure of Jean Nicollet, undoubtedly at 
Champlain's suggestion, for an exploring trip 
among the Great Lakes. He went up the Ot- 
tawa to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, and 
thence to Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Michigan, 
following the western shores of the latter lake 
as far as Green Bay, and entering the Fox 
River. He returned to Quebec the following 
summer, having been gone just a year. This 
was the most important exploration of the 
western country yet undertaken. 

Another winter passed. The company's 
business was good, and the quarrels of the 
rival traders of former days were heard no 
more. Quebec was growing, although very 
slowly. Champlain might well feel that there 
was a potent germ of life in this small but 
hardy colony, and he could see with increasing 
satisfaction that his three decades of work in 
and for New France had not been in vain. In 
this year, 1835, long pending arrangements 
for a college in Quebec were successfully com- 
pleted. Ren^ de Eohault, son of the Marquis 
de Gamache, was a young man who had en- 

233 



Champlain 



tered into the order of the Jesuits. His ear- 
nest wish was to found a college in the New 
World, and to gratify this wish his father, the 
marquis, had in 1626 offered for the purpose 
the large sum of sixteen thousand gold 
crowns, or forty-eight thousand francs, equiva- 
lent to a very much larger sum in modern 
money. The undertaking had been broken off 
at the invasion of the St. Lawrence by the 
English in 1628 and 1629; but the offer had 
since been renewed, and the plans were now, 
in 1635, completed. The first building was 
erected two years later, in 1637, a year before 
the founding of Harvard College. The exist- 
ence of this important institution at Quebec 
had the almost immediate effect of drawing to 
Canada from Normandy and elsewhere many 
well connected French families who had pre- 
viously hesitated to come on account of the 
lack of educational facilities for their children. 
Several of these families acquired estates on 
the Beauport road, in proximity to the sei- 
gniory of Robert Giffard. 

During this summer Champlain addressed 
a letter to Cardinal Richelieu which may be 
considered as summarizing his Indian policy. 
He dwelt on the necessity of suppressing the 
long-standing feud between the Algonquin and 
French allies on the one side and the Iroquois 

234 



Restitution and Renovation 

on the other, on the ground that peace would 
vastly facilitate the French trade with all 
the Indian tribes and would correspondingly 
check the trade of the English and Dutch, who 
now profited in many ways by the hostility of 
the Iroquois to the French. But peace must 
come through war. *^It would only need a 
hundred and twenty men, ^ ' he urges, ^ ^ in light, 
arrow-proof armor; these, with two or three 
thousand Indian braves, our allies, could in a 
year make themselves absolute masters of all 
these people, and thus establish order, open 
the way for religious influences, and stimulate 
an incredible traffic. ' ' ^ This was no doubt in 
great part true; and if Richelieu had taken 
Champlain ^s advice, the horrors of subsequent 
Iroquois warfare might have been largely and 
perhaps wholly averted. 

» Champlain had already written, years before, to King Louis 
XIII., urging the same considerations. See Brovage et 
Champlain ; Documents Inedits^ publies par Louis Audiat ; 
page 32. Paris, 1879. 



235 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE PASSING OF A KNIGHTLY SOUL 

1635 

It was a day about the middle of October, 
1635. A strange hush had fallen on the little 
population of Quebec. Traders, soldiers, 
priests and Indians, all were subdued to a 
common gravity. In a chamber in the turreted 
fort on the clitf their Governor, Champlain, 
lay helpless, stricken with paralysis. 

The post and its founder were so intimately 
one that it did not seem that Quebec could ex- 
ist without Champlain. In the crisp October 
air, men and women stood grouped about the 
courtyard of the fort, asking one another in 
low tones what hope there was for his recovery. 

There was none. Sixty-eight years of storm 
and stress had done their work. Death and life 
fought hard with each other. For two months 
and a half, while the physician used all his 
skill, and the warm-hearted Jesuit, Father 
TAllemand, tenderly watched and anxiously 
prayed, the sturdy constitution resisted. But 
it was vain. 

236 



The Passing of a Knightly Soul 

On Christmas day, 1635, the Father of New 
France passed away. He died as he would 
have chosen to die — Governor of his beloved 
province, in the very citadel of its little capital. 
One might well say, paraphrasing Napoleon 
Bonaparte's immortal words, that his dearest 
wish was to be buried on the banks of the St. 
Lawrence, in the midst of the Canadian peo- 
ples whom he had loved so well. 

The grief at Quebec was unfeigned and 
deep. Champlain had no enemies. In the lit- 
tle church of Notre Dame de Eecouvrance, 
in mourning for its builder, the funeral 
was held, and the entire population of the set- 
tlement attended. Father Le Jeune, coming 
to Quebec from Three Rivers, delivered an 
impressive funeral oration. ^^We can truly 
declare, ' ' he said, ^ ' that his death is the death 
of the blessed. I believe that God has be- 
stowed His favor upon him, in consideration 
of the wealth he has been able to procure for 
New France, by means of which we hope that 
some day God will be loved and served by our 
French compatriots and known and adored by 
the uncivilized around us. It is true that he 
has lived a life of justice and honor, faithful 
to his king and the company ; but in his death 
he has perfected his virtues, with a piety so 
remarkable that we can not but be astonished." 

237 



Champlain 



I 



Champlain 's body was buried, with every 
mark of reverence, in a sepulcre particulier. 
One of the first acts of the succeeding Gov- 
ernor, M. de Montmagny, was to erect over 
the tomb, in the following summer, a memorial 
chapel, which was called the Chapelle de 
Champlain. This, with the Chapelle de la 
Eecouvrance, was destroyed, in 1640, by an 
extensive fire. There has been no little discus- 
sion as to where it stood. The best evidence 
appears to indicate that it was in the old 
Cimetiere de la Montague, at a spot within 
the square in which the present General Post- 
Office is situated. 

By a startling provision in his will, Cham- 
plain, whose religiousness had of late years 
become almost religiosity, left his property 
of 4,300 livres to the Virgin Mary! The 
Jesuits promptly laid claim to it, as being the 
vice-regents of the Virgin on earth. Their 
claim was not disputed by Madame Cham- 
plain, who was in France, and who was quite 
as mystically devotional as her husband had 
come to be ; but a cousin contested the will on 
the ground of informality, and it was even- 
tually broken, the controversy arousing wide 
interest in France and Canada. 

Champlain 's character was best portrayed 
Jby his life. He has been aptly called the most 

238 



The Passing of a Knightly Soul 

picturesque figure in all Canadian history. 
^^ Confident in himself, but with no touch of 
self-conceit, . . . taking the dangers of 
the sea carelessly ; and yet [his] narrative re- 
veals but a small part of the man; we have 
still to discover his steadfast courage, his pa- 
tience, his resourcefulness and his kind heart. 
Champlain too had a love of romance that 
carried him into many dangers, but never 
overcame his prudence; and a religion that 
kept him unavaricious among traders, forgiv- 
ing to those who wronged him, chaste even 
among Indian women — a religion free from 
bigotry, that made him always desire that the 
people of the New World should be discreetly 
persuaded to Christianity but never forced 
into it. He is particularly interesting to 
Americans, because he is a Frenchman with 
those qualities which a wayward English tra- 
dition denies to the French — patience, so- 
briety, calm self-control, and a complete 
absence of vanity. His was the very character 
for the founder of a colony. ' ' ^ 

**0f the pioneers of the North American 
forests," says Parkman, ^^his name stands 
foremost on the lists. It was he who struck 
the deepest and boldest strokes into the heart 

1 Sedgwick : Champlain. 

17 239 



Champlain 



of their pristine barbarism. At Chantilly, at 
Fontainebleau, Paris, in the cabinets of 
princes and of royalty itself, mingling with 
the proud vanities of the court ; then lost from 
sight in the depths of Canada, the companion 
of savages, sharer of their toils, privations 
and battles, more hardy, patient and bold than 
they — such, for successive years, were the al- 
ternations of this man's life.'* Champlain, 
he adds, *^ belonged partly to the past, partly 
to the present. The preux chevalier, the 
crusader, the romance-loving explorer, the 
curious, knowledge-seeking traveler, the prac- 
tical navigator, all claimed their share in 
him. ' ' 

^^On the long honor-roll of French chiv- 
alry, '^ wrote John Fiske, twenty years ago, 
*^ there are few names that shine with a 
brighter or purer luster. In his character 
there was much that reminds one of the high- 
est type of medieval knight, of a Godfrey or 
a Saint Louis ; yet combined with this was that 
keen scientific curiosity which in our own day 
animates a Baker or a Livingstone. His piety 
and probity were equal to his courage and en- 
durance, and these qualities were united to a 
tact which made him the idol of Indians and 
white men alike. ^ ' 



240 



The Passing of a Knightly Soul 

On September 21, 1898, an imposing monu- 
ment to Champlain's memory was unveiled at 
Quebec. A distinguished assemblage was 
present, including the Governor-General of 
Canada (Lord Aberdeen) ; Admiral Sir John 
Fisher, representing the British navy; the 
official envoy of France, the officers and men 
of the United States ship Marblehead, and 
the members of the International Commission, 
which was then in session at Quebec. The 
ceremony was most impressive, and the event, 
instead of being a purely local commemora- 
tion, proved one of international interest. 

The monument stands high on the esplanade, 
within the area of Champlain's long-vanished 
fort, and in one of the most commanding posi- 
tions in the city. The sculptor was Chevr^; 
the architect, Le Cardonnel, of Paris. The 
statue represents Champlain saluting New 
France as he mounted for the first time the 
great rock of Quebec, when in 1608 he founded 
the city. The commission of the French King, 
Henry IV., is in his left hand; it bears the 
great seal of France, with three fleurs de lis. 
The figure is of heroic size, its height being 
fourteen feet and nine inches. Together with 
its Doric pedestal, the total height of the monu- 
ment is about fifty feet. 



241 



Champlain 

It bears this inscription in French : 
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 

BORN AT BROUAGE IN SAINTONGE ABOUT 1567 

SERVED IN THE ARMY UNDER HENRY IV. 
IN THE CAPACITY OF QUARTERMASTER 

EXPLORED THE WEST INDIES FROM 1599 TO 1601 

ACADIA FROM 1604 TO 1607 

FOUNDED QUEBEC IN 1608 

DISCOVERED THE COUNTRY OF THE GREAT LAKES 

COMMANDED SEVERAL EXPEDITIONS 
AGAINST THE IROQUOIS, FROM 1609 TO 1615 

WAS SUCCESSIVELY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 
AND GOVERNOR OF NEW FRANCE 

AND DIED AT QUEBEC, THE 25tH OF DECEMBER^ 

1635 



242 



INDEX 



ABERDEEN, Lord, 240. 
Algonquin Indians, 48, 50, 
107, 109-116, 121, 122-127, 135, 
141, 150, 156, 158, 165, 180, 
186, 227, 234. 
AUemand, 1', Father, 185, 236. 
Armada, Spanish, 7. 
Arques, battle of, 12, 13, 35. 
Aumont, d'. Marshal, 11, 12, 13. 



BAILLIF, Le, 218. 
Beauport, 218-219, 234. 

Beaupr^, 190. 

Blavet (Port Louis), 15, 16, 39, 
62, 144. 

Bonnerme, Surgeon, 105. 

Boston Harbor, 72, 74, 

BouU^, Eustache, 177, 185, 205. 

BouUd, Marie Helena (Mme. 
Champlain), 129-133, 138, 153, 
176-178, 184-185, 238. 

Bourbon, Cardinal de, 11, 13. 

Br^beuf, Father Jean de, 185, 
222, 231-233. 

Brissac, Marshal Charles de, 14, 
16, 17, 35, 152. 

Brouage, birthplace of Cham- 
plain, 1, 2, 9, 61, 127, 144, 145, 
162. 

Brul^, :6tienne, 106, 127, 139, 
164, 166, 218. 

Bateaux, Father, 231. 



CADIZ, 19. 
Caen, Emery de, 176, 210,218, 
220 221. 

Caen, William de, 176, 221. 

Cardqnnel, le, architect of Cham- 
plain monument, 241. 

Caron, Father Joseph le, 162-165, 
173-174, 193. 

Cartier, Jacques, 37-39, 48, 50, 
54, 56, 87, 104, 106, 137. 

Catholics, Roman, 9, 12. 



Champlain, Samuel de, birth, 
parentage, and youth, 2-4; in 
army, 11; voyage to Spain, 15- 
21; to West Indies, 22-32; re- 
turn to France, 33-34; first 
voyage to Canada, 47-59; 
writings published, 64, 161, 
176, 213; voyage to Acadia, 
65-85; made Governor of 
Canada, 91; founding of Que- 
bec, 92-103; plot against, 97- 
101; first winter in Que- 
bec, 102-106; first expedition 
against Iroquois, 108-116; dis- 
covery and naming of Lake 
Champlain, 110; return to 
France, 117; in Canada, 120- 
128; second fight with Iro- 
quois, 122-125; betrothal and 
marriage, 129-132; founding of 
Montreal, 135-142; accident 
on horseback, 146; reforming 
of trading company, 148-152; 
search for North Sea, 155- 
159; bringing of Recollet 
priests to Canada, 162, 163; 
third fight with Iroquois, 168- 
170; winter among Hurons, 
171-173; takes wife to Canada, 
177-183- in Canada, 185; cap- 
ture of Quebec by the English, 
192-211; in England, 211-213; 
in France, 213-221; final re- 
turn to Quebec, 222-235; 
death of, 236-238; character, 
238-240; monument to, in 
Quebec, 240-242. 

Charles I, King of England, 191, 
208, 213-214. 

Charles IX, King of France, 9. 

Chastes, Aymar de, 12, 20, 35-37, 
44-46, 60, 87. 

Chateauneuf, French ambassa- 
dor in London, 212-213. 

Chatham Harbor (Cape Cod), 78, 
97. 



243 



Champlain 



Chauvin, Captain Pierre, 117, 128. 
Chauvin de Ponthuict, Captain, 

43, 44, 48, 62, 63, 87, 96, 191. 
Chevr^, sculptor of Champlain 

monument at Quebec, 241. 
Cocq, Le, 218. 
Colombe, Don Francisque, 21, 

22, 24. 
Cond^, Prince of, 10; Henry de 

Bourbon II, 150, 152, 175, 176. 
Couillard, Guillaume and Guille- 

mette, 217, 219-220. 
Couillard, Jacques, 218. 
Cuba, 26, 31. 



DANIEL, Father, Jesuit priest, 
231. 
Davost, Father, Jesuit priest, 231. 
Desdames, Thierry, 202-205, 218. 
Desportes, Pierre, Fran9oise and 

Hdlene, 218. 
Dieppe, 2, 12, 20, 35, 36, 117, 

183, 208, 213, 222. 
Dover, 211. 

Duchesne, Adrien, 218. 
Dutch, trade of, 189. 
Duval, Jean, 97-101. 



ELIZABETH, Queen of Eng- 
land, 7. 
English at Quebec, 211-217. 
English on James River, 87, 102. 
Erie, Lake, 56. 



FISHER, Admiral Sir John, 
240. 
Foucher, 193, 194, 205. 
France in civil conflict, 9; war 

with England, 191. 
Francis I, King of France, 38. 
Francis II, King of France, 9. 
Froidemouche, 218. 
Frontenac, 149. 



(^ AMACHE, Marquis de, 233- 
X 234. 
Gaspc, 38, 49, 117, 202, 204, 205. 
Germany, 8. 

Giffard, Robert, 218, 234. 
Godefroy, Jean, 218; Jean Paul, 

218; Thomas, 218. 
Goudon, Elizabeth, 208. 
Granville, Lower (Port Royal), 

75. 
Gros-Jean, 218. 
Guadaloupe, 23. 
Guast, 61. 

Guast, Pierre de. See Monts. 
Guises, ducal family of, 10, 11. 



HAVRE, 2, 47, 59, 64, 65, 119. 
Hubert, Louis, and wife, 181, 
217, 219-220. 

Henrietta Maria, Princess, 214. 

Henry III, King of France, 9, 10. 

Henry IV, King of France (Henry 
of Navarre), 10, 11, 13, 14, 20, 
33, 34, 42, 60, 88, 118; assas- 
sinated, 127; 145, 241. 

Hertel, Jacques, 218. 

Hochelaga, 54, 137. 

Honfleur, 46, 59, 91, 92, 117, 119, 
128, 134, 153, 174. 

Hubou, Guillaume, 217. 

Hudson's Bay, 53, 151. 

Huguenots, 9, 10, 145. 

Hundred Associates, Company 
of, 190, 213, 220, 222. 

Huron, Lake, 164, 233. 

Huron Indians, 108-116, 121, 
141, 150, 163, 165, 173. 



IROQUOIS Indians, 50, 107, 
111-116. 122-125, 164, 181, 
183, 228, 234-235. 
Ivan the Terrible, Emperor of 

Russia, 8. 
Ivry, battle of, 12, 13, 35. 



JAMAY, Father Denis de, R^ 
collet priest, 162, 219. 
Jesuits, 162, 177, 185, 186. 
Jeune, Father le, Jesuit priest, 
188, 231, 237. 



KIRKE, Admiral David, 197- 
201, 207, 210-211; Ger- 
vase, 208; Captain Louis, 198- 
201, 207-209, 216-217, 221; 
Captain Thomas, 198-201, 207, 
209. 



LACHINE Rapids, 55, 136, 138, 
142, 155, 158, 159. 163, 173. 
Lalemant, Father. See Alle- 

mand, 1'. 
Languedoc, 214. 
Lescarbot, Marc, 77, 79-82, 97, 

130, 135, 219. 
I-evi, Point, 96, 206. 
London, Champlain in, 211-213. 
Louis XIII, King of France, 127, 

191, 213, 214, 221, 235. 



MANHATTAN, Dutch in, 189. 
Mantua, Duchy of, 214. 
Marais (Maretz), Claude de, 106, 
109. 



244 



Index 



Margarita, Island of, 23. 
Marguerie, Fran9ois, 218. 
Marsolet, Nicolas, 106, 218. 
Martin, Abraham, 217. 
Masse, Father Ennemond, Jesuit 

priest, 185, 222. 
Maximilian II of Germany, 8. 
Mayenne, Duke of, 11, 13, 14. 
M^dicis, Catherine de', 9; Marie 

de, 127. 
Mercoeur, Duke de, 13. 
Mexico, 6, 26-29. 
Michigan, Lake, 233. 
Miscare, or Miscou, 196. 
Montagnais Indians, 48, 104-105, 

109, 120, 121, 123-126, 135, 

153, 165, 175, 182, 186, 202, 
227. 

Montmagny, Governor of Canada, 

238. 
Montmorency, Admiral Charles de, 

35, 53; II Duke of, 150, 176, 

177, 185. 
Montreal. 38, 54-55, 135-142, 

154, 159. 163. 

Monts, Sieur de (Pierre de 
Guast), 61-64; voyage to Aca- 
dia, 65-75; 82, 89-91, 100, 
118-119, 130, 133, 143, 145- 
147, 177, 191. 



"VTATEL, Antoine, 98, 105. 
XM Nauset (Cape Cod), 73. 
Newfoundland, 38, 49. 
Niagara, first mention of, 56. 
Nicollet, Jean, 218, 233. 
Nipissing Indians, 164, 183, 228- 

229. 
Norot, 196, 198. 
Nova Scotia, 65, 84, 89. 



OLBEAU, Father Jean d', 
R^coUet priest, 162. 
Oneida, Lake, 166, 167, 168. 
Onondaga, Lake, 167. 
Ontario, Lake, 56, 166, 171. 



TDAGE, Le, 217. 



Panama, 29 ; canal suggested, 

29-30. 
Pare, Du, 128, 135, 174. 
Paris, 14, 18, 34, 60, 88, 92, 119, 

129, 146, 153, 187. 
PhUip II, King of Spain, 7, 10, 13, 

16, 30. 
Pivert, Marguerite, 217; Nicolas, 

217. 
Plessis, Brother Pacifique du, R^ 

collet priest, 162. 
Plymouth (Mass.), 73, 179, 220. 



Poitrincourt, Baron Jean de, 40, 
63-64, 67, 74, 77-84, 89, 97, 
219. 

Pontgravd, Captain Francois de, 
42-44, 46; voyage to Canada, 
47-59; voyages to Acadia, 65- 
70, 71-85; voyages to Canada, 
92-100, 106-117, 120-128, 133, 

153, 163, 173-174, 176, 178, 
182; at council of war, 195; 202, 
207, 209; illness, 204; final 
mention, 224-225. 

Pope, opposing Turks, 8. 

Port Royal (Annapolis Basin), 
67, 74-84, 219. 

Porto Rico, 24. 

Prairies, Des, 125. 

Prevert, Captain, 47, 57-59, 83. 

"Proven9al Captain," Cham- 
plain's uncle, 3, 16, 17, 19, 21, 
34, 144. 

QUEBEC, first sight of, 54; 
founding of, 96; 108, 117, 
119, 121, 135, 136, 142, 152, 

154, 163, 173, 175, 178, 179, 
181, 182, 185, 188, 189, 192, 
199; capture of, 206-208; 
English in, 211-217; French 
remaining in, 217-220; resti- 
tution of, 221; return of 
Champlain to, 223-224; 228; 
state of, 229-230; college in, 
233-234; death of Champlain 
in, 236-238; Champlain monu- 
ment in, 240-242. 



RAYE, Pierre, 218. 
RaziHy, Isaac de, 221. 
R^coUet priests, 162, 179, 180, 

183, 185, 186. 
Richelieu, Cardinal, 190, 213-215, 

221, 234. 
Roche, Marquis de la, 40-41, 65, 

87. 
Rochefort, 2. 

Rochelle, La, 2, 9, 143, 144, 161. 
Rohault, R^n^ de, 233-234. 
Roquemont, Admiral de, 200, 202. 
Rouen, 2, 45, 119, 130, 153, 161. 
Rudolf II of Germany, 8. 
Russia, 8. 



SABLE Island, 40, 41, 65. 
Saguenay River, 53, 95, 117. 
St. Augustine, Florida, 102. 
St. Croix, Island of, 68, 74, 75; 
on St. Lawrence, 104; Point, 
227. 



245 



Champlain 



St. Luc, Francois d'Espinay de, 

10, 11, 13, 14, 145. 
St. Malo, 2, 42, 47, 75, 85, 160, 

161. 
Saintonge, province of, 9, 61. 

143, 177. 
San Domingo, Island of, 25. 
San Lucar de Barrameda, 20, 21. 
Savignon, 127, 136, 138-140. 
Soissons, Count de, 149. 
Soubriago, General, 17, 18, 19, 21. 



TADOUSSAC, 49-53, 93, 99, 
106, 117, 120, 128, 134, 142, 

149, 153, 160, 163, 174, 177, 

183, 192, 209, 223. 
Tardif, Olivier le. 218. 
Terrier, Ysabel, 180. 
Testu, Captain Guillaume le, 

98-99. 
Themines, Marshal de, 175. 
Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres), 



54, 62, 109, 121, 126, 181, 183, 

230-231. 
Ticonderoga Point, 111, 115. 
Tour, Sieur de la, 196, 198. 
Tourniente, Cape, 190, 192, 193, 

195, 196. 
Trade, French, in Canada, 43-45, 

50, G2, 65, 90, 95, 117, 118-122, 

126, 135-138, 142, 148, 150, 154, 

159, 177, 189-190, 226. 
Turks pressing on Europe, 8. 



VENICE opposing the Turks, 8. 
Ventadour, Duke de, 177, 
185, 190. 
Vignau, Nicolas de, 151, 155-159, 
164. 



WAKE, Sir Isaac, 214. 
West Indies (Spanish), 
16, 22-32. 



(1) 



246 






i 



■, Vv v-^^vvo ^\\v 



